Seeing Red
by LilithRisen
Summary: Clary Fray and Jace Herondale may not be the most functional roommates. He leaves his used towels on the floor and she leaves wet paint brushes on the coffee table. When an accident results in the perfect situation landing in Jace's lap he has to take it, making a deal with her seems easy, but not all deals can be broken without consequences. AU/AH/OOC (Complete)
1. Roommate Wanted

**{Chapter One}**

 **~Jace~**

"This is the stupidest thing you've done in a really long time. Maybe even worse than when you left your hairspray next to my hot straightener and blew up the third floor bathroom." Isabelle was disgruntled. "Do you have any idea how many whack jobs are out there, trolling the internet, looking for people who are crazy enough to ask for roommates online?"

Jace sat comfortable on his couch, debating how much more trouble he would be in with Izzy if he turned the tv on, the remote was so close but his self preservation kept his hands firmly clasped in his lap. His legs were sore from his morning run and he was sweating, Jace stretched his legs and watched his sister move around the room.

She knocked his feet off the table as she passed. "You could end up living with a guy who collects his toenail clippings and back hair in a jar." Isabelle was stomping around the living room in her six inch, spiked heels. It was a well known fact that they were made to stab out the hearts of uncommitted men. As such a man, Jace Herondale was uneasy, especially in her current sour mood. Which, coincidentally, was also directed at him. This wasn't a safe space for Jace to be standing in, for at least the next six months.

"Are you speaking from personal experience, little sister?" Isabelle paled and sent Alec an array of death glares and gestured with a certain finger. Alec was staring at her like she'd grown another head. Jace, being the _incredibly_ sensitive man that he was, couldn't help but crack up at the looks on his step siblings faces.

"Jonathan Christopher Herondale, you are not allowed to laugh at me. You're the one who's going to be living with a NAZI and get murdered in your sleep." Isabelle sank down into the leather couch, chewing the worn ends of her manicured nails. Jace knew it was one of her nervous ticks that she had developed back in grade school. One which had taken her years to get rid of, evidently unsuccessful.

"A NAZI that saves all his toenail clippings and back hair in a jar? I promise that if I start rooming with that brand of psychopath and he kills me, you can say I told you so as many times as you want. If the police ever find the remains of my body, that is." Jace mocked in a sullen tone. A joke he regretted not a minute later when Isabelle erupted from her seat and took the few steps between them threateningly.

Grabbing her purse off the edge of the table, Izzy began beating him with it wholeheartedly. Jace used his arms to block his face from her anger. "You ass! I'm worried about your impending doom and you're sitting there like this is the most normal thing in the world." Isabelle punctuated each word with an extra heavy swing at Jace's head.

The metal buttons and buckles stung his skin as it struck his arms but he didn't make a sound. He could hear Alec chuckling behind their sister. Jace made a grab for the deathly weapon, managing to grab onto one of the violent straps and pull it away from the crazed woman. Izzy balls up her fists and made a desperate attempt at jabbing him with her slender hands. Jace easily overpowered her and pinned her arms against her chest in a bear hug.

"What the hell are you laughing about over there, dipshit?" Alec slammed his mouth shut and tried to hide his continued amusement behind his hand. Isabelle was still trying to fight her way out of Jace's tight embrace.

"It's nothing. You two are idiots. Jace, you shouldn't be asking for roommates on the internet, and Iz, you should know better then to attack Jace face first." Isabelle stilled her struggle and blew away raven tendrils out of her face. She stuck her tongue out at Alec and he laughed harder, not trying to hide it anymore.

Isabelle raises her leg and kicked out at his ankles. Hissing at the bitter sting from the heel, Jace pulled Isabelle off her feet. Depositing her back first into his lap.

"Let go of me, jackass." Jace chuckles into her shoulder and Izzy squirms away from the tickling sensation.

Isabelle was beautiful and the only serious relationship he had ever had with a woman other than his grandmother, a purely platonic one but Jace had grown up with the Lightwoods and he felt like they were fully related, blood and all that. Jace's mother and Alec and Izzy's mother were best friends since childhood, Jace always suspected that they planned to be matchmakers for Iz and him. Although it had never worked out for them that way. Not only was Isabelle not interested in Jace as anything other than a brother, just like Jace didn't particularly see her as anything but an annoying little sister, but Jace's complicated home life didn't bode well for the happy family life.

"Only if you promise to stop hitting me." Iz huffed out something that sounded like ' _fine_ ' but Jace doubted that it was the only thing she uttered. Letting her go Jace leaned back against the cream ottoman and watched her balance like a newly born fawn.

"Jace, you have to at least let us meet your prospective roommates." Izzy rolled her eyes and Jace heaved a loud sigh, covering his face with his large hands. There was a slight, rough stubble on his cheeks and Jace rubbed his face with renewed frustration.

"God, don't you start now too, Alec." His brother was up on his feet and pacing around the moderately sized living room now. Alec waved his arms around and Jace was worried that he would knock over the 46" flat screen and dual speakers, or worse, his limited edition Lord of the Rings boxset. That would definitely be the perfect end to his siblings' impromptu intervention.

" _Yes_ , me too! You can afford to live here alone, why do you need a roommate? If you say it's because you're lonely I will hit you and so will she," He pointed at Isabelle, who in turn nodded eagerly. "Izzy and I live downstairs. I know you miss Jordan but you can hang out with him _and us_ anytime you want."

Jace could tell they were both trying to understand.

They were right, he could live in the penthouse alone without stretching his monthly allowance. Hell, he could probably rent out the entire building and it wouldn't make a dent in his savings. There was a feeling in his chest when he was alone and he didn't like it, it felt like sadness but he didn't know what he was sad about. Well he had an idea of what could be at fault but he wasn't the most open minded when it came to his feelings so instead of facing it, Jace buried it a little further in his chest and ignored the gnawing at his gut.

"I know you guys are close by but you know I'm always busy, studying and practicing and whatnot. I don't like living alone, I feel isolated and I'm always the one to find spiders somewhere in the apartment." Jace shrugged and crosses his arms over his chest in defiance.

"We understand that but will you let us vet the candidates?" When Jace nodded at Izzy he felt resigned. There was never any point in arguing with her.

"Let me see the ad." Jace figured it wasn't such an outrageous request and handed Alec his phone. After a few seconds Alec's face scrunched up and he passed the phone back. "Did you seriously make 'must hate ducks' a requirement?" Jace grinned when Alec narrowed his eyes. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"They are bloodthirsty, switchblade wielding, cannibalistic little monsters. You turn your back and they will destroy you and everything you hold dear." Isabelle began laughing and Alec stops his pacing to stare at Jace in disbelief.

"You're an idiot. They're ducks, not a James Bond villain. " Alec stretched with the last of his patience.

"That's just what they want you to think, Alec. They want you to think they're cute and cuddly and let your guard down." Jace leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees before jumping off the couch. "Then _boom_ you find yourself at the mercy of the beast!"

"You need to start seeing a therapist."

 **~o.O.o~**

 _ **Clary**_

Clary knocked on Simon's plain white, chipped door. Walking up and down the hallway Clary shoved her fisted hands into her leather jackets pockets. Flipping her red curls over her shoulder with her shaking hands she fought the urge to knock again.

Clary was trying hard not to go back to that douchebags apartment and paint a Jackson Pollock with a baseball bat and what little brain he had. Checking her watch Clary played around with a loose string on her sweater, wrapping it around her finger until it ripped. It was almost six in the morning and Clary could see the first rays of sunlight beaming through the hall window. Simon's apartment was on the third floor and Clary had walked four blocks, she was tired and in desperate need of her best friend.

Clary's phone rang again, pulling it out of her jeans back pocket, Clary winces and declines the call. How dare he call her? What kind of a selfish jackass thinks he can just call up the girl he just cheated on an hour after she found out?

She marched to the door and slams her fist against the frame frantically. Clary could hear muffled curses through the wood and her eyes were reddening as she fought back tears. Simon cracked open the door and poked his disheveled head through the slit. Once he recognizes the shadowy figure as Clary he fully opened the door and pulled her inside.

"What's wrong Care-bear?" Simon studies her puffy green eyes and the small sniffle that starts Clary's downpour of tears. Simon wrapped his arms around her and led her to the nearest dining room stool. While walking to the refrigerator Simon tossed her a box of tissues from the counter and a bottle of water from the fridge.

"I came home early and guess who I found in bed? If your answer is my awesome _boyfriend_ in bed with his best friend, who he swore was like a sister to him then you would be absolutely correct." Taking a gulp of cold water Clary humorously laughed at the universe's cruel joke. Clary buried her face in her hands and tried to breathe through her continued sobs.

"That son of a bitch. I'll kick his ass. If you want." Clary dropped her hands wearily and smiled softly at her best friend. She gave him one of her genuine smiles and shook her head. "Wait, didn't the two of you move in together last weekend?"

"Sadly. Can I use your computer? I need to find another apartment." Clary stood on shaky legs and dusted away invisible wrinkles off of herself. Putting down the water bottle on the counter she held out her hands for Simon's laptop. Handing it to her begrudgingly, Simon crossed his arms. "Somewhere far away from that cheating asshat."

"You know you can stay here for as long as you want." And Clary did know that. Simon has been her best friend since they were ten and Clary shoved mud down his shirt for ruining her charcoal drawing of a horse.

"Si, you've taken care of me for as long as I can remember. You helped me find my first apartment; helped me finish my admissions essay for Columbia, everything you do for me makes me love you more but just this one time, let me take care of myself. Plus, I'm going to call in a favor with you soon and want to stay on your good graces." Simon watched her as she googled ' _roommates wanted in New York City_ '.

Clary knew there was a risk that she would end up living with a creep or in someone's cooler but it was better than having to sleep in the same building as that cheating son of a bitch. She just hoped karma would knock him down a few pegs, and soon.

"Alright, I have to be up in two hours for class." Simon leaned over and kissed her cheek. It was Simon's tradition not to wear anything but boxers to bed and Clary didn't care but any roommate that he managed to get had a problem with it. Before walking back into his bedroom, Simon muttered, "Goodnight."

"Night." She called after him absentmindedly.

Clary spent the next hour searching for possible apartments that wouldn't take her out of Manhattan or empty Harry Potter's Gringotts vault. Most of which were either dumps in the worst bordering streets or the landlords were obviously drug dealers, in some odd cases it was both. After going through more websites than a thirteen year old boy looking up porn for the first time, Clary was about to give up.

Then she saw it. The Holy Grail of apartments.

There was a penthouse available only a few blocks from Columbia. Looking at the pictures and description of the place Clary knew it was too good to be true. Although there was a weird requirement that any future roommate must hate ducks. Clary figured there was no reason not to email the guy. What harm could it do to just check out the place?

His email made her choke on her tongue. "' _DuckKiller90_ '? What an idiot."

Clary sent out the email and waited. There was a good chance that ' _DuckKiller_ ' wouldn't respond right away but there was nothing else for her to do but wait. She couldn't go pick up her things because she could run into Gollum and his Precious. The only things there were her clothes, shoes, laptop and small belongings. Her art equipment was in Simon's storage unit, Clary had planned to find room in their apartment for it this weekend but not anymore. She had to sell all her furniture and anything related to the kitchen because he had bought things he had liked, although looking at it now, Clary had an inkling who actually picked out their decoration. He was like a warden with his things, not even the sexy, roleplaying kind.

Clary decided to make a pot of coffee while she waited for DK to respond. When she heard Simons alarms go off in two minute intervals, Clary poured a second cup for him and made the, surprisingly, long journey to his bedroom. The musky smell of unwashed laundry filled her nose and the sight of collectible action figures made her feel nostalgic. Simon slammed his hand down on his phone, feeling around for the snooze button, using his free hand to muffle his curses with a pillow against his face.

"I got you that on your fifteenth birthday." Clary whispered leaning against the doorframe and pointing at the Avatar: The Last Airbender figurine of Katara.

Simon removed the pillow and rose on his elbows groggily. Giving her his goofy smile, Simon dragged himself out of bed. He was still half naked as he sleepily trudged over to Clary and threw his arms around her. Clary laughed into his shoulder but hugged him back tightly.

"You smell like lavender." Sometimes his brain makes the strangest connections. Most times, actually. Like the time during the ninth grade marine field trip when they were looking at the seals and he talked about the latest FRIENDS episode. "Any luck in the search?"

Simon shimmies on a pair of jeans and was in the middle of pulling a shirt over his head when she answered, "Actually, I just emailed someone about a penthouse."

The shirt snagged on his glasses and after a struggle of fabric and groaning, Simon was free. "A penthouse, huh? Look at you moving up in the world."

"I would move into a German dungeon if it meant getting my own space again." She grit her teeth and walked with Simon back to the kitchen.

"Clary, are you sure this is safe? The word 'killer' is literally in his email." Simon finally said after inspecting both the listing and her email.

"You have an obscure Pokemon refrence from Indigo League on your Instagram. I don't think you're allowed to judge other people's life choices."

Simon looked at her flabbergasted before pointing an accusing finger in her face, "You said that joke was funny!"

"I also said growing a mullet would make you look cool in seventh grade."

 **~o.O.o~**

 _ **~Jace~**_

"These people are either the best practical jokers or the most desperate people I've ever heard about." Alec said reading another email. "Okay, this one started off normally and then it just fell through to horrifying. He's single and has a steady job, downside is that he's forty and that stable job is being a cocaine dealer." Jace took another drink from his scotch and grimaced. "What the hell is wrong with these people?"

"What?" Isabelle crosses her legs and drank through her green straw.

Jace was getting tired of all of these people. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to try living on his own after all. He had put up the ad two weeks ago and the only people who responded were freaks and sometimes even worse. Alec had gone through six aspirin, two bottles of water, and over a hundred emails from complete strangers. Jace was on his third scotch and Izzy would not let go of her gin and tonic. It hit him then, he could be living with one of the people from those emails. A complete stranger.

"This one seems really normal." Iz and Jace straightened up and put his drink on the glass coffee table. "It's from someone named Sage Fray, he's a student at Columbia, on his second year of pre-med, he just went through a bad breakup and he's 23." Alec glanced up from the screen. "Actually he's totally normal, you know, compared to the rest of the nutos. Let's respond." Jace raises his eyebrows at Izzy. "What? Okay, so the guy is looking for an apartment online and that's a little weird and he just got over a breakup so I'll wait a week before making a move but out of the rest of them he is sounding like the best." Alec made a choking sound and covered his coughing mouth with his hand.

"Isabelle, please don't hook up with my roommate." She wiggles her her eyebrows at her brothers in a seductive way. Alec closes the laptop and intertwined his fingers on his legs. Jace stares at her like she'd grown a second head and Isabelle just shrugged.

* * *

 _To Be Continued..._

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Mortal Instruments but I wish I did!**

 **I have a new rule of the jungle for you, monthly story focus. November was supposed to be for 'We Move Forward' (Divergent) but now it's this one! I'll let you guys know what the story of December will be at the end of the month and so on until I finish all of my story and my dumbass adds more.**

 **Anyways! Sending you my love!**


	2. Lunch?

**{Chapter Two}**

 **~ _Clary_ ~**

Clary woke up in a warm, sock smelling cocoon. Tossing the offensive blanket off she lifted herself off the couch. Yawning and groaning herself awake, Clary rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. Her neck was stiff and she could feel the ache settling at the base of her back. This always happened when she slept uncomfortably and it sucked, by the time she felt better it would be nighttime and she would sleep in the same cramped position.

A throaty laugh sounds from the kitchen, Clary picked up her flat shoe and tossed it in the general area of Simon's head. Simon, being exceptionally Simon like this morning, attempted to dodge the flying weapon and tripped over his own feet. His arms flailing around as he set about steadying himself against the counter, hot coffee sloshing in every direction while Clary muffled a fit of relentless giggles into her hands.

"Laugh it up, psycho, this was your coffee." Clary suddenly felt very guilty for launching the assault on her best friend. Simon placed the half empty mug into the kitchen sink and wiped his sticky hand on a towel, rearing back, he clicked a few buttons on his laptop. "That creep you found online emailed you again."

Clary had been in an email chain with Jace for two weeks. It was honestly going really well. He was a bit of a video game nerd but Clary had gotten plenty of practice sitting around when Simon played so she didn't think it would be a dealbreaker. If anything he and Simon might hit it off and become friends.

Today they were supposed to be meeting his current, and her future, landlord at Jace's condo, to sign Clary to the lease. She was apprehensive to meet her future roommate but enthusiastic as well. They had so much in common, it was eerie sometimes. The ponderous amount of nervousness pressed down on her, chilling her bones and setting her nerves like a live wire. What if he changed his mind and didn't want to be her roommate anymore? Clary didn't want to call her parents for help. _Again_.

Clary's back adjust as she stretches her limbs from the couch. She flinched when her spine and neck cracks. "You don't know he's a creep." She muttered along as she poured herself a fresh dose of her daily caffeine addiction.

"I repeat, on-line." Simon breaks apart the word, annunciating and spitting out each letter like it tasted rotten. Clary rolled her eyes, taking a gluttonous gulp of the black substance, she released a satisfying sigh when she felt herself warm from the inside. Simon placed two piece of bread in the toaster, tapping his fingers on the edge of his plate as he waited patiently for the timer to go off. He hummed a tuneless song that Clary couldn't name.

"He could be a totally ordinary guy, who just happens to be searching for a roommate online." Leaning against the counter, Clary gently blew the gathering steam away from the hot ceramic mug before tipping it up to her lips once again. Clary moaned as the dark liquid cascades down her throat in bitter waves.

Simon choked on his, now ready, toast and began to laugh, shaking his head quickly. "Sometimes I think you'd rather have a relationship with coffee than an actual human male. Or female, whichever you prefer, I don't judge."

Chuckling, Clary nods along with his poor attempted humor. Simon mumbles something into the chunks of toast in his mouth. "Come again?" He uses his fist to cover his mouth from the flying crumbs, in an unnatural gentlemanly way. He seemed to be having trouble swallowing as he wildly gestures to the clock above his microwave. "Damn, I'm going to be late!"

She could not be late, that would be the worst, most unacceptable way to meet him. "Go meet your murderer, Fray." Simon chuckles darkly behind her. "I'll speak fondly of you at the funeral. But know I don't mean a thing, it's all a show for your parents!"

Spotting the weaponized shoe, Clary grabbed it and tugged it on. Quickly collecting her jacket and purse, Clary struggles to collect and slip on her other shoe while hopping to the door. "Wish me luck. Bye, Si!"

 **~o.O.o~**

 _ **~Jace~**_

He's late. Jace's new, gay, roommate was late.

He felt the need to state that he was gay, at least in his head Sage was gay. Jace had nothing against people's sexuality, live and let live. He just hadn't lived with someone of the same sex, who could try to seduce him because Jace knew he was mancandy and Sage would try to seduce him. As a matter of fact, Jace suspected Alec was a little more into guys than he let on and Jace even wondered if he could set the two of them up. No, that wouldn't work. Alec had been talking about someone he met a while back, Magnus, something or other.

Groaning, he checked his watch again, his class started in fifteen minutes, he couldn't wait around forever. This was a very bad first impression. From the exchanged emails he knew that Sage was a pretty cool guy but this was a disappointment nonetheless.

"Okay, I have to go. When Sage shows up ask what his major is. It sounds weird, I know, but I want to make sure it's the right guy." Jace peers into his bag to make sure he had packed his textbooks, he really didn't want to forget them. Especially with Professor Wayland's bitter mood recently, Jace suspected he was in the middle of a nasty divorce but no way in hell would he ask. That was way out of his comfort zone.

He hurried out the door and took the stairs two at a time.

"Jace?" Maureen called out after him, he paused in the middle of the staircase, glancing back at her. Maureen was his 42 year old landlady, although she acted more like a mother than a professional contact. "Want to tell me what the guy's major is so I know too?"

Jace didn't exactly know what the guys major was but he did know one thing that only Sage could know too, "He's on his second year pre-med." Jace was well aware that it may not be Sage's main major but it was all he had and he mentally chastised himself for not asking Fray earlier in their conversations. Rushing through the front doors of his brownstone apartment complex, Jace quickened his pace.

Jace wasn't mad at Fray for being late, he just wished he was more invested in this roommate situation they were entering together. The cool New York wind bit down on Jace's exposed flesh, reddening the skin. Tugging his collar higher in an attempt to cover his neck Jace maneuvered around traffic. People milled past him, shoving their elbows out to create the smallest amount of personal space.

Usually Jace appreciated the longing looks women threw his way but this morning he wasn't in the best mood either. Izzy had given him another lecture about online meetings and how they could go wrong and this time she'd brought printed articles. Jace knew she loved him and that's why she did it but it was getting slightly annoying.

He finally broke away from the foot traffic, taking a deep breath of the chilled air into his lungs. A frail figure stumbles into his chest, his arms reaching out instinctively, catching the woman before she could hit the ground. Her unruly curls wrestling unsuccessfully against the current. She was plastered to him, her wrists in his hands, their breaths mingling. Jace couldn't help but inhale her with her being so close.

"Sorry." Jace apologized, but doesn't step away from her.

She smells like citrus and something spicy, Jace couldn't identify the scent. She was pretty, not his usual type, but she fit nicely against him. And that was with her excessive layers of clothes. "I should go." The girl nodded her head, waves of red hair tickling his hands.

She was devouring him with her bright eyes, taking in every angelic detail she could find. Jace wasn't uncomfortable with the attention she was paying him and if he didn't have Wayland's wrath to deal with, he would definitely get to know her better. "Maybe I can give you my number?" She was direct, Jace liked that in a woman.

"Sure, baby." Jace could live with Wayland's dirty looks if it meant he could tumble around in the sheets with this girl for a few hours. She rattled off her number while Jace quickly typed it under her name. After he turned away from her, Jace was running towards campus with a new bounce in his step.

When he entered the room there was a thick silence, Wayland was at his desk. His greying head resting on his arms, was he napping? Jace quickened his pace to a seat next to Jordan, hoping like hell that Wayland wouldn't notice him coming in late.

 **~o.O.o~**

Clary took the steps two at a time, she could already see the door and knew Jace would give her hell for how late she was. She hadn't known Jace for that long but she was slowly getting used to the idea of rooming with a guy, other than Simon. She was a little worried about what would happen when Jace eventually brought a girl home, Simon hadn't but Clary knew nothing about Jace's nightlife. Maybe he expected her to make herself scarce on those nights. Not that she would want to involve herself in any of his sexy-time activities.

Even thinking about it freaked her out.

Clary stopped in front of the door, now that she was there she was more than a little nervous. When she was running down the streets Clary had been too busy panicking to really think about what she was doing. She was about to move in with a man she had never met and known only through a handful of emails. Would it be too late to back out?

Clary was disappointed at the thought of letting another opportunity go straight through her fingers and let her mistakes get back to her parents, another chance for them to try and convince her to move back home and never leave. _Screw it_.

Taking a deep breath, Clary gripped the handle and pushed it open.

An older woman sat on one of the black, leather couches. She looked small compared to the outrageously large furniture in Jace's livingroom. Everything in the room was in neutral colors, blacks and whites. No splatter of color, no art or vases. It was a cold room, Clary realized before she wondered if Jace was colorblind. Now that she thought about it, she barely knew anything about Jace. Clary didn't even know what he looked like, he could be a six hundred pound man in his late forties with a bright pink mustache.

Maybe Simon had a point about meeting people online, well, it looked like it was too late to back out now. "I'm sorry, I'm late."

The woman looks startled as she stood on her heeled legs. Was this Jace's mother? This would not be the appropriate way to meet her. Covered in a fine sheen of sweat from running several blocks and climbing stairs like a madwoman. "You're Fray?" Her eyebrows rose to meet her hairline.

Nodding her head, Clary shook the woman's hand. "Clary Fray, and you are?"

"Maureen Haworth. I'm the landlady. It's an absolute pleasure to meet you, Miss Fray." A slow smile spreading across the woman's thin lips. "I think you're going to love it here."

Something about the woman made Clary think she was scheming.

 **~o.O.o~**

Isabelle sat across the tv in her messy room, chewing on a bag of pretzels. Normally, Izzy would be worried someone would walk in and see her, covered in crumbs, her hair a complete tangled rat's nest. The latest fashion magazine tightly gripped in her hands. Who would ever willingly wear animal prints? Absolutely disgusting. Izzy turned her mouth in disdain.

"Isabelle!" Izzy quickly pushed herself off the bed, using her hands to wipe away the more noticeable pretzel pieces before Alec burst through the door. "Guess what Maureen just told me?" Isabelle wrapped the bag of pretzels underneath her arm and looked at her brother expectantly. Alec stood in the doorway, a bemused expression gracing his features.

"Are you going to tell me or just stand there looking like an idiot all day?" Alec angled his head to the side and frowned quickly. Izzy was always impatient but recently she had gotten worse. Barely waiting for anything.

"Jace's new roommate is downstairs." Alec said in a singsong voice. Isabelle rocked on the balls of her feet, silently cheering. A silent question hung between them. "Before you go down there and try hitting on Fray in all your Isabelle like glory, you should know, Fray is a girl." Shock radiated through Izzy, freezing her celebration. "I mean you can still go down there and hit on her, I just don't know if she's into that."

"Shut up already, let's go meet her!" Isabelle grabbed her brothers hand and began speed walking towards her bedroom door. "We can go shopping with her!"

"Your enthusiasm is frightening." Izzy chuckled lightly as she pulled Alec's hand.

The walk to Jace's was quick and Izzy knew she was cutting Alec's circulation off but couldn't find it in her to care. Isabelle hadn't had a close girlfriend since she was a little girl. After Iz developed most girls began hating her because of it and others wanted to be friends with her just to get close to Jace and Alec, before Alec came out.

"I'm just excited. How often do you see Jace with a girl that he's not sleeping with?" Isabelle stood outside the closed door, whispering the question. Alec looked at her doubtfully. "Yeah, never would be correct. I can't wait to meet her. What do you think she looks like? I think she's probably a total nerd. You know, because of all the videogames she and Jace talk about. Oh! and I think-"

"Jesus, can you breath? Normal girls play videogames too, you know." Isabelle cocks her head to the side but before she could respond the door swung open to reveal a pale girl in a jean jacket. Red curls framing her delicate features, green eyes peering under thick lashes and a pair of glasses balanced on the bridge of her thin nose. Izzy had to admit, she didn't look odd or threatening, especially in her confused state.

She was pretty, Isabelle decided. In a natural girl next door kind of way.

"Hello?" Her trimmed eyebrows dipped down further. "Can I help you?"

"I'm Isabelle and this is Alec, we're Jace's best friends. Not to mention we grew up together and are like siblings." Isabelle rattled off, despite Alec's not so subtle poke in her ribs with his elbow.

The girl's mouth was slightly ajar. She took several breaths, like she was preparing to say something, but cut herself off before any words could penetrate her baffled expression.

"Wow, that's a big title. I'm Clary Fray, Jace's new roommate." Iz gave her the ' _look_ ', the one that said ' _no shit, we thought you were robbing the place_ '. Clary held the door open for them. "It's a pleasure and all but I don't know why you're here."

"We came by so Izzy could make sure you weren't a NAZI who collects her back hair and nail clippings into a jar." Isabelle sent her brother a look of something that could only be defined as brotherly hatred. Iz glanced back at Clary, fully prepared for one of three things. I'm going to be your friend to get with Jace or Alec, I hate you, or freak out. She saw none of that in the giggling girl in front of her.

"I'm sorry to disappoint, I was under the impression that it wasn't a requirement." Isabelle decided, then and there, that this girl was her new best friend and Jace better not screw it up or she would be using her heels to dig out his eyes.

 **~o.O.o~**

Clary sat in front of arguably the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen. Even though Isabelle was discretely attempting to apply mascara while using the napkin holder as a mirror, she still got appreciative looks from every guy in the restaurant. If Clary had done the same she would have been escorted out

When Isabelle and Alec had shown up at Clary's door this morning she had been so shocked she hadn't even thought about it when she agreed to go out to lunch with the two of them. So far things were going great, better than one might imagine meeting your roommates siblings before the actual roommate. She had told them about her passion in art and how the medical degree she was working so hard for was all her father's doing, "It's not that I don't want to be a doctor! I love helping people but I don't want to spend every waking minute in a hospital wrist deep in someone."

In return they told her about Alec's boyfriend and Isabelle's lack of romantic interest. The way she had put it, it sounded like she was sick of macho guys who were just there to get in her pants or paw at her half heartedly. Clary made a mental note to 'accidentally' arrange a run in with Simon in the near future.

"So, bottom line, we were showered in glitter. It was everywhere- in my hair, up my nose. It took a total of six showers to get all of it off and even though it was weeks ago, I'm still finding glitter all over his house. Where is it coming from? That's the question I want answered." As Alec finished telling the story of his and Magnus, his boyfriend, first date, Clary nearly choked on her water. She noticed Alec leaned more towards his hands, gesturing and waving them when he spoke, he smacked Izzy's arm several times during his retelling.

"That was just their first date, they met when Alec tripped over a plastic llama at Magnus' house warming party and fell into the pool." Clary was laughing so hard just by looking at Alec's reddening face, she could barely get a drink of her water down before she hear Alec mumbled around a mouthful of sandwich.

"I still don't understand why he had, still has, that stupid plastic llama. They freak me out." The patrons at the bar were giving them strange looks to make sure they weren't high because of how hard Clary was laughing.

"That llama must be the reincarnation of Cupid because, it seems to me, he brought you two together." Alec poked his French fries with the tip of his fork, smiling at her. They seemed to like her and that helped calm her raging nerves about meeting Jace.

"Literally, Alec landed on top of Magnus." Alec's face was a completely new shade of red and he sputtered.

"I hope Jace is as nice as the two of you." Clary smiled brightly at the dark haired siblings. She thought the three of them would become fast friends soon. Clary always had a soft spot for people.

"He's not nearly as awesome but I'm sure he'll warm up to you in no time." Isabelle reassured her but Alec sipped his drink without saying anything.

 **~o.O.o~**

When Jace walked in through his front door something felt off.

There was laughter wafting in through his apartment, he recognized Alec and Izzy sitting on the couch but there was another person in the room, with a melodic laugh. One that didn't sound like any guy Jace knew. Fray must take his gay status very seriously because the giggling coming from the adjoining room sounded distinctly female. He dropped his bag unceremoniously next to the kitchen door to get everyone's attention, Izzy and Alec were blocking his view but from here he could tell that Fray was a very short guy.

"There's a party in my apartment, and I wasn't invited? I feel absolutely cheated." Isabelle moved to the side, revealing a short red haired girl. She was chewing her lip, her verdant eyes downcast. Looking at her from here, Jace could tell she was nervous, it was the usual response he received from women when he entered the room. She was probably one of Isabelle's friends from her design classes. "And who are you?"

"Clary Fray." That's when things hit home, this is Fray? His new roommate? The person he thought was a guy? Jace glanced around the room, looking for a camera, this had to be a prank. However, the longer he looked around his kitchen the more he felt the weight of living with a girl suffocated him.

"We're going to give you two a moment." Alec stood from his seat and pulls a gleeful looking Isabelle up with him.

Jace hears Iz protest, "I want to watch."

Jace was too focused on the girl sitting in front of him. She was very nice to look at and if she were wearing a tight dress, some make up, and they were at a nightclub, Jace would have definitely made more than a few moves on her. In that scenario they would have had their fun and then never see each other again, while in this case, they would have fun then live a very awkward existential crisis until the lease ran out.

"I thought you were a guy." Jace hadn't meant to be that direct with it but he couldn't help the fact that he was blurting stupid things out when he was shocked.

She had probably already signed the least if she was sitting around in his- _no, their_ \- apartment. Now they were stuck together, he might as well be honest with her. Clary looked at him with a mixture of horror and surprise, if he wasn't wrong, there was some amusement hidden behind there.

"I told you I just broke up with my boyfriend." Jace studied her. She looked guarded, her arms crossed across her chest and she hadn't made eye contact yet. "You thought I was a gay guy." A bemused laugh passed her gritted teeth, her head snapping up, sharp eyes meeting his. "Why is it you were okay with living with a gay guy but not a straight girl?"

"Because if I lived with a guy, gay or not, I could still bring girls home without the added bonus of hiding another girl." Clary dropped her arms and flung out of the chair, landing on her feet. "What I mean is-"

"Oh, I know what you mean, you can't bring your one nightstands back here because if they see me they'll think we're together and might not want to sleep with you." She waited for him to deny it but, truth be told, he couldn't because that's exactly why he didn't want a girl for a roommate. "You're disgusting." She grabs the jacket that had been slung over the back of Alec's chair and headed for the door. "It was nice meeting you," she grumbles before slamming the door back in his face.

 **~o.O.o~**

What a tool.

After Clary had stormed off she'd walked around Central Park trying to calm herself, but when she reached into her purse to call for a cab she ran into a slight problem, it wasn't there. Currently, she was facepalming for being stupid enough to leave her purse at that douche's apartment. It had been well over three hours since she'd left but she was hoping he hadn't decided to be an extra ass and throw it away.

The walk up the stairs was awkward, to say the least. When Clary neared the door she could hear voices inside, she scrapped her hand against the doorframe, hoping that Isabelle or Alec would answer, but no such luck. His broad shoulders came into view once the door was opened and his messy blonde locks brushed over his raised eyebrows. He looked surprised to see her but not angry or 'police call' ready. That was a good sign at least.

"Before you yell or tell me to leave, I forgot my purse and getting new cards would be a pain in the ass. Can I grab it before being thrown out?" Clary wasn't trying to be rude but something about his cocky smirk made her want to be an outright bitch, she doubted she was the only one out there with that feeling. Especially around this playboy.

"Who is it, baby?" Clary hoped to God that it wasn't Isabelle because if that was how she treated her siblings, it was repulsive and not something she could avoid throwing up over. Although the voice was more chipped than Isabelle's and definitely more libidinous.

"I need your help." His eyes widened to the size of a quarter as he whispered, his words coming out like violent strokes against her face. "Get this psycho out of my house." Clary opened her mouth to argue but Jace cut her off. "I don't have time to explain but if you do this, you can stay here as long as you'd like."

That was certainly a tempting offer, the penthouse was beautiful. Cream colored walls and wall to wall windows letting in soft rays of light. And she really didn't want to give Simon the satisfaction of being right about the internet, his head was big enough as is. She also didn't want to move in with her parents house or into the crowded dorms.

"Fine, follow my lead." Jace barely had enough time to nod his head before Clary launched herself at him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Jace reacted surprised but quickly, lifting her off her feet and spinning her inside the apartment. "Take me into the kitchen and act like me being here is a huge shock." Jace placed her down until her feet hit the ground, squeezing her tightly before releasing her. He laced their fingers together as he led her into the kitchen talking adamantly about some business trip she was apparently back from too soon. Clary chose to ignore the tight clasp of his fingers. Clary notices the angered redhead by the bathroom door but pretends not to.

 _Honey, even I can tell that's cheap hair dye._

"What are we doing?" Jace was staring intently at the doorway to the kitchen while Clary searched around the room for her purse, when she found it she dug around inside. She pulled out her cellphone and sent a quick message to Simon apologizing for not texting or calling back the past couple of hours. He must have been on the verge of skipping class and coming all the way uptown to make sure she wasn't reduced to body parts in a freezer.

Ignoring his question, Clary pushed Jace back out through the door. "Go back into the living room and talk to your bimbo, it's all part of the plan." Taking several long breaths Clary heard a sharp female voice protesting.

She could hear Jace's deep baritone voice saying something in a rushed tone, she couldn't understand him because of how quiet he was but she figured it was long enough. Stepping out from the kitchen Clary steeled herself.

"Hey, babe…" She called out towards Jace as she halted in front of the taller figures. "Oh my god… How could you do this to me?" Forcing tears to spur out of her eyes wasn't a difficult task, she'd had plenty of practice as a kid begging her father for things.

A spark of understanding passed Jace's eyes and he played along. "It's not what it looks like, I swear." He almost looked convincing as he pleadingly stared between the two women. The woman next to him was very close to naked, close as in all she was wearing was her bra and thong. Clary had seen too much of this stranger to last a lifetime.

"What? Did she fall out of her clothes?" Clary used her hand to muffle the cries as she turned back into the kitchen, she heard Jace telling the girl to get dressed as he ran after her.

"This is going well."

When they finally heard the zipper of her jeans, Clary picked up a white plate from the drying rack. "Do you like this plate?" Jace didn't get to answer before Clary flung it towards the wall, smashing it into porcelain piece. "How could you?!" She threw another plate, followed by a similarly plain mug, Jace dodged the flying platters like a champion.

Clary wondered how many times in his life women had thrown things at him for Jace to get this good at not getting hit.

A terrified looking woman stumbled into the kitchen, looking down at the broken pieces and then at Clary's grief stricken face. "And you, how dare you sleep with the father of my child?" Clary made a show of grappling at her flat stomach while plastering herself against the refrigerator and sliding down to the floor, crocodile tears rolling down her face. "You should both be ashamed of yourselves!"

The woman ran out of the apartment faster than Clary had the first time, leaving an entertained Clary and bewildered Jace behind. "You are quite the actress, Miss Fray."Clary laughed as she picked herself up off the floor. He reached out his hand to help her but she shook it off. She didn't feel like touching him much more with the knowledge that his hands were all over another girl ten minutes ago.

"Are you going to tell me why I just had to get rid of a girl you clearly hadn't finished with? Or does a fake pregnancy just turn you on?" Jace's body rocked with silent laughter.

"She started talking about getting married and having my babies, it seriously freaked me out." His rough hands ran across the nape of his neck before he turned back to face her.

"Okay, that's understandable. Sorry about the plates." He nodded but didn't say anything, just stared at her. His eyes sweeping up from her flat shoes, eyes slowly inching their way up to meet hers, his body tensing. "Now, this staring contest is just awkward. Want to show me where I can sleep or do you have a little black book of women I need to scare off?"

"Wait, you aren't going to clean this up?" Jace gestured wildly at the shattered pieces of his china all around them. Clary shrugged off her jacket and headed back out into the living room, a reluctant Jace followed close behind her.

"I evict your psychos, you clean up the mess I make in the process. That's the way this works." Jace groaned but didn't argue with her, Clary knew she won when he knelt his head.

"Second door to your right." Clary turned towards the hallway. "Try not to break anything else on the way." Clary had to use all her self control not to cackle back at him, but she couldn't stop the eye roll.

* * *

 _To Be Continued..._

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Mortal Instruments or any of the characters used in this story. Please don't steal my plot thought.**

 **I know for those of you who have been following this story since the beginning this is nothing new, but it had been so long that I barely remember what happened so I figure while I'm editing you guys could use the reminder. Also, yes, Clary wears glasses.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoy this refresher because soon new chapters are going to be getting spit out. Honestly I think I might actually finish this entire story, won't that be crazy?**

 **Let me know what you think so far!**


	3. Deal or No Deal

**{Chapter Three}**

 **~o.O.o~**

 _ **~Jace~**_

Jace peeled his heavy eyelids open, the only reason he was this tired was because that she-devil had gone batshit with his plates last night and he had gotten stuck cleaning up the mess she had made. He could feel the knots in his back and the softness of the blanket threatened to lull him into a deep sleep again.

Not only had he torn up his hand pretty badly from one of the more jagged pieces but said she-devil had woken up at five in the morning, accidentally waking him up along with her. Jace guessed she was doing it on purpose when he heard the shower in her bathroom start and then she began humming.

 _Humming!_

Normally a shower wouldn't be a bother and he could sleep right through, if you were napping in the living room, but Jace's room just so happened to be a _very thin_ wall away from the shower in the second bedroom. He could hear the gentleness of her voice and if he wasn't royally pissed he might have thought it was pretty.

He waited in the warm sheets as long as humanly possible, praying to whatever deity would listen for just a few more hours of undisturbed sleep. The shower had turned off at some point and Jace could hear the rapid steps outside of his room. The melody however didn't stop along with the shower, if anything it got louder and more persistent as getting inside his head. Like an irritating itch he couldn't scratch. Jace was already regretting his decision to let her live with him, not caring how many psychotic girls she would manage to get rid of for him.

Unraveling the covers away from his sweating legs, Jace swung them over the edge of the bed. Throwing on sweatpants and a black tee shirt, which he quickly dropped back down on the edge of his bed. Jace strolled through the hall, towards the incessant singing.

The kitchen countertops were covered in splats of pale yellow batter, the fresh scent of pancakes filled his nostrils. Jace didn't smell anything burning or hear the fire alarm blaring, that ruled out Isabelle's cooking. What really surprised Jace was the smiling woman in his kitchen, he'd never woken up to any woman cooking for him. Besides Maryse and Isabelle, but what Izzy made barely counted as edible in the first place.

Clary stood at the griddle, her red hair pulled into a messy bun at the top of her head, loose tendrils dropping down her back and in her face. Drops of off yellow littered her pink tank top and boxer shorts, along with dried paint chips in a rainbow of color. Jace smirked as he watched her sway her hips to the music coming from her phone, Clary slid on her purple, fuzzy socks, from one end of the over to the other. And continued to hum.

"Where did you get those clothes?" Clary jumped up, a good foot away from the bubbling batter, the spatula clicking off the pan. Jace stood at the doorway, arms over his bare chest. Clary glared at him as she flipped the golden cake.

"Don't you own a shirt?" Jace reached for one of the steaming stacks and ripped away a piece to pop in his mouth, Clary glanced at him disapprovingly but didn't smack his hand away like he would have thought she would. "They're hot, try not to burn your tongue."

"You've seen me shirtless before." Tearing into the fluffy hotcake with his nimble fingers, Jace shoved a larger chunk into his mouth, blowing out puffs of air to cool his mouth. "This," Jace swallows the heap of food. "Is really good."

"That one time I saw you was enough to make me want to pour acid into my eyes and thank you. Can you get the butter out of the fridge, please?" Jace nodded his head.

Pulling open the metallic door Jace gapped. What he saw inside surprised him more than seeing his new, female roommate cook pancakes for him. Food. Fresh food. Jace was used to take out containers lining every edge of the refrigerator and strange mold growing in the vegetable drawer, and that was definitely not what was inside now.

There was a carton of eggs, milk, packaged meat, and all sorts of fruit and none of it was expired. Jace's worst fear was beginning, he was living inside a domestic house. Next thing you know he would be picking up diapers at baby gap. Was that even a real store? Jace didn't want to find out. Grabbing the wrapped butter he wordlessly handed it to Clary.

"You okay?" Clary asked as she began rinsing the pan. Once she finished she pulled the plate of pancakes with her to the kitchen table. "Are you coming?"

"Uh, yeah." Jace sat down and pulled several cakes onto his plate, eyeing the bowl of fruit next to his plate. "We should talk about our arrangement."

"Wow, way to make me sound like a prostitute." Jace choked and began to laugh. "For the record, you couldn't afford me."

Jace continued to laugh and soon they were both laughing, unable to eat without dying via pancake. "Okay, okay. Let's talk about our _agreement_."

Washing away her laughter with a drink of orange juice, Clary nodded her head for him to start. "You can be my roommate, but you have to help me. Most of the time when I have a girl over and it ends the way it did last night, I have to think of a believable excuse. But with you, you can help me get out of _sticky_ situations."

"Please don't describe anything. I really don't want that mental picture haunting me. I'll agree with helping you, but is it going to happen every night or do I get time off?"

"Well, a lot of my dates know what they are getting into so they leave on their own and on those nights you can stay out of sight, or when you don't want company you can call me and tell me not to bring anyone over. This isn't a prison sentence, you still have a choice."

"I can live with that." After that they only made polite conversation, Jace felt a weight fall away from his chest. Clary and him had a nice working arrangement, like partners in life. Only without the bonus of sex.

She was a good cook and she was a stress driven germaphobe so maybe it wasn't the worst thing to happen to him. Even though after breakfast Clary made him wash the dishes.

 **~o.O.o~**

"Mom? Hey, it's me. Your only child. You and dad are probably out but I just wanted to call and let you know I'm sorry that I haven't talked to you in a while. I'm moving into a new apartment, I'll send you the address and have you over as soon as I'm settled. Don't worry about me, I'm taking care of myself. I love you both. Bye."

She hadn't exactly mentioned that she had broken up with her boyfriend or that she and Simon snuck into the apartment they were supposed to share, while he was in class, to steal her things back. They could only make three trips since she didn't want to risk running into him and there were only two of them so the majority of her belongings were still piled high in unmarked boxes against the living room wall.

She knew it would be easier if she called him and had a moving truck come in and take her things but every time she thought about it, thumb hovering above the 'call' button, she would chicken out. Unable to go through with it.

Clary only grabbed what would fit inside the cab, things like her laptop and a couple of the smaller cases of clothes. Simon managed to snag her Xbox and controllers but they couldn't find the box with her actual video games, she considered it only half of a win.

"Was that your parents on the phone?" Clary spun around to face the ghosting voice. Isabelle stood in the doorway, her hip pressed against the couch. "I didn't mean to pry…"

"No, it's okay, it was my parents voicemail." She explained. Isabelle pulled away from the couch and briskly walked towards her.

"I know what it's like to know your parents voicemail better than their voices. My mom and dad travel all the time. Most times I don't even know what time zone they're in." Izzy rubbed down her arm in what Clary assumed was a comforting gesture.

"I'm sorry." Isabelle and Clary stood staring blankly at the cellphone in Clary's hand.

"Don't be. Do you want to go get a cup of coffee or something? We can talk more about how shitty our parents are." Clary gave her a reassuring smile.

"Lead the way."

 **~o.O.o~**

"What happened after?" Isabelle had spent the last hour enlightening Clary on Jace's colorful background. If the endless parade of women Izzy was telling her about was as accurate as Iz remembered then Clary would have a hell of a time rooming with Jace.

"Well, after my mom basically force fed the poor girl a mountain of cookies, Jace was so uncomfortable that he refused to come out of his room the entire weekend. Not even when What's-Her-Face banged on his door for a solid twenty minutes, asking for her underwear back. Jace never had a girl over to our house again. He used every other available space though. Cars, the janitor's closet at school, movie theater and even the bathroom at Panera one time." Clary dropped her fork against the edge of her plate.

"I'm never going to Panera again." Clary covered her mouth with her hand, faking gagging noises. Although inside she really was vomiting at the thought, she just hoped the feeling would say on the inside. "Pumpkin muffins are ruined forever."

"It happened in Junior High! It was a long time ago! I'm sure they've cleaned thoroughly since then." Isabelle attempted to sound outraged at the fact that Clary refuses to listen to her, but her face broke out in a wide grin. Their laughter echoing through the otherwise quiet Java cafe. "At least I hope it's enough."

"What are we talking about?" Isabelle's eyes practically bugged out of her head, Clary's matched hers closely because she recognized that voice too. The smooth velvety sound of it, even when used in monotone. It was Jace, the Almighty Asswipe who ruined Panera for her. Where the hell was she supposed to get those delicious pumpkin muffins now?

"Nothing important." Isabelle hid her relentless giggling behind a fit of coughs that Clary knew, just as well as Jace, were fake. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know, going on an expedition to a far away land where the hills are actually chocolate and I'm hunting the mythical unicorn." Jace shakes a brown paper bag, the contents bouncing uselessly against the sides. Clary almost choked when she spotted the Panera logo.

"Are you always such a smartass?"

"Almost exclusively." Clary opens her mouth to respond and closes it again, there was nothing that could dampen this guy's ego. "We need to talk. Come on." Jace holds out his hand to her. Clary, rolling her eyes skyward, purses her lips together and stands up. Avoiding his outstretched hand again. After hearing about his exploits she didn't want to risk her clothes magically disappearing.

Clary waved goodbye to Iz and snorted when she innocently chewed on one of Clary's abandoned fries. Clary and Jace exited the cafe into the warm breeze. The mass of people filtered around them, Clary's small stature caused her to get pushed back into the crowd and away from Jace. She could see Jace rolling his head back in a defeated manner before pushing back through the turmoil of people and to her in a few strides. He reached for her hand and grasped it tightly, her fingers wiggling limply across his palm.

 _Lord Almighty, this is how he holds hands?_

She hadn't noticed how bad it was last night but she was definitely feeling the numbing from his grip. Jace pulled her away and into the less crowded park across the street. Jace dropped her hand like it was searing holes into his flesh but Clary didn't feel offended in the slightest, especially with the deformed way he had been holding her hand in the first place.

"What is it, Jace?" Clary massaged her palm with vigor, hoping to return the circulation into her desensitized fingers.

"My best friends birthday is in a month, you know, Alec? He's having his party at Pandemonium, I want you to be my 'date'." He quotes around the word date. Clary nods confused and turned to hail a cab, she didn't really have anywhere to go besides the condo and Simons, maybe she could go sketch or paint at the school. "I wanted us to practice."

"Excuse me? This isn't like practicing for a basketball game, it's natural for people to be with others. It's not like you need to learn how to be in a relationship. Although your hand holding technique need help."

Clary gave up her search for a cab when the third one passed her and decided to get some exercise and walk back home. She was a little surprised at how easily she thought of the penthouse as home. Izzy and Alec made the place seem more alive and even Jace, in all his disgusting fuckboi ways, had an endering quality.

"My what technique?" They began walking leisurely through the varying degrees of green scenery in the park. A canopy of vines hung low from the cap of the gazebo several feet away from them and Clary thought the scene was beautiful enough to paint for hours.

"You have a death grip, I still can't feel the majority of my fingers. Not to mention the fact that you were holding my hand like we were closing a business deal. More professional than intimate." Jace had stopped moving and lagged behind her. Staring down at his hand.

"Have any other critiques for me? Because we need to create the whole disgusting couples atmosphere that people have." With that, Clary was forced to spend the next twenty minutes with Jace, fixing the most disappointing hand hold she had ever seen.

"Not so tight, you want to be reassuring not like you're holding a leash." Jace muttered another apology before readjusting his fingers to lightly hold onto hers.

"My hands not too sweaty is it?" Clary wasn't even paying attention to his hand anymore, it was almost a subconscious thing for her to be holding it. She hadn't been single since she was fifteen and it was weird not having a boyfriend to do nauseatingly sweet things with.

"Nope, it's fine. Try not to worry as much. Just relax." Jeez with the way he was acting you'd think he had never walked down the street with a girl before. Then again, Izzy had mentioned girls but never a _girlfriend_. "No, stop it. If you squeeze my hand anymore my eyes will pop out of my head like a stress ball."

"This isn't rocket science, Golden Boy, just relax your hand."

"Rocket science might be easier." Clary ignored him with a roll of her eyes.

Clary stopped walking and flexed their intertwined fingers again. "You have a smudge of ice cream on your chin. How it got there, I don't know." It was a lie. She did know how it got there but she didn't want to tell him that people had been staring at his face and giggling because of her. It hadn't been ten minutes since she'd used her cone to threaten him. He still hadn't lessened the pressure on her hand so she had to go through with her attack.

"Yeah, no one knows. It has nothing to do with your kamikaze ice cream from earlier." Clary's treat had to be sacrificed for the greater good, and there was no way in hell that she was willing to lick anything that touched Jace's face. She swiped her thumb on his stubbled and smiled happily when the chocolate was gone.

Jace loosened his fingers around hers, making their palms scrape together gently as they trudged down the sidewalk. Clary didn't take notice of how close to each other they walked. It was almost a peaceful walk, birds chirping high in the branches above them. Until Jace opened his mouth and annoyed her.

"Do you want a muffin?" He held up the Panera bag and Clary had to bite her lip to avoid getting Isabelle in any trouble with her brother.

 **~o.O.o~**

The clingy taste of raspberries slid across Clary's tongue. The gooey syrup glinted off the metal fork and clung to the torn piece of french toast. For the past two weeks Jace had been annoyingly present. At all times. She didn't get any time to herself. Dropping her off at campus every morning, being fantastic eye candy for every female in the vicinity along the way, except Clary of course. Not only did he also pick her up but he then took her to lunch or dinner, whatever time it was when she finished class. It was getting ridiculously hard trying to avoid him. It was like he was glued to her side.

Said siamese twin was currently devouring the largest platter of waffles by stuffing large forkfuls into his mouth. Every time he took a bite of the spongy food he would moan, at first Clary thought he was doing it unconsciously, but after the one hundredth sexual sound that left his mouth, Clary wanted to beat him with the butter container.

Clary had finally had enough, forcefully dropping her knife and fork onto the white tablecloth she lost her temper. "Oh my God, can you not sound like you're having an orgasm every time you take a bite? It's a waffle, not a vagina."

"If these were any less amazing I might take offense with that." Jace stuck his fork out at her, a piece of waffle pointing directly at her head. "You should order these next time we come here." He popped it into his mouth and made an even louder groan in the back of his throat.

"You're a pig." Jace grins around an overstuffed mouthful of food.

Clary noticed the amount of attention he was receiving. Both female and male. She guessed that when someone looked like Jace, sexual preference wasn't the first thing you thought of. Watching him eat she couldn't help but admire his figure.

"How do you manage to eat so much and not gain a pound? I eat a single potato chip and break the bathroom scale, but you're over there eating a small nation's worth of breakfast and your six pack is upgrading."

"I train it all off," Jace shrugged away her question.

Scrunching her eyebrows Clary swallowed back her food. "Train?"

"I play soccer for NYU. Coach is a sadist when it comes to nutrition and health." He explained with a shudder.

"How come I haven't seen you go out to practice or class since I moved in?"

"That's because you're either in class yourself or you're passed out somewhere at home." She couldn't disagree with that. Class was kicking her ass and it would only get worse when she found an internship at a hospital. "Why are you studying medicine anyways? An idiot could see you aren't passionate about it."

"Apparently an idiot has seen." She gave him a joking look. "My dad is a doctor, he was always at work when I was growing up and I never felt like we really got a chance to bond. I guess I thought that maybe medicine could bring us together."

"You won't be happy, you know? You aren't becoming a doctor because you want to be one, you're doing it to try and save something that's already gone." Jace waved over a server and asked for the check.

"What do you want me to do, quit Columbia Med to become a starving artist?" She provoked with an airy laugh.

"If it can make you happy someday. Why not?" Clary had become so distracted with the conversation that she missed Jace passing the check back to the waitress, she snapped out of her head when he pulled her to her feet. Experienced fingers finding their place between hers and tugging her out of the restaurant.

 **~o.O.o~**

"If you change the channel one more time, so help me, I will tickle you to death, Clary Fray." She had flipped the channel enough times that Jace was dealing with whiplash.

For the past three weeks Clary had been the person he spent most, if not all, his time with. When she went to see her friend Simon or went out for coffee with Alec or Izzy, Jace felt kind of lost. She was there when he woke up, her ridiculous fuzzy socks sliding on the floor as she moved around the kitchen to make breakfast. Her bright colored pillows on the couch and a throw on the arm of the recliner.

Jace remembered coming home one night only to find a battered looking Clary dragging heavy boxes through the door. As it turned out, Clary was a chicken when it came to asking her ex for her things back. She had been sneaking in and out of the guys apartment while he was out, slowly collecting all her things. He would have gone over there and just asked for her things but she threatened bodily injury so Jace left her to her methods.

Her voice broke him out of his head, "Enjoy explaining that to the police."

"They will never find you." He said lowly.

Clary was wearing another pair of fuzzy socks, along with her trademark shorts and band tee. Her feet were tucked up in his lap, the remote rocking on her stomach. She narrowed her eyes into slits and in one swift movement she was on her knees next to him, her arms around his neck. An innocent smile on her face. "Ah, you don't mean that."

"Switch the channel again and we'll find out." She rose both eyebrows, he knew she couldn't lift just one and he enjoyed making fun of her for it. Her lips curled in a challenge he had learned to recognize. She leapt away from him, grabbing the remote. She stood facing Jace as she raised the remote and pointed it at the tv.

"Clary, don't do it." Clary smiled devilishly as her thumb came down on a button and the screen switched to a rerun of FRIENDS. Not that Jace didn't like the show but he had been enjoying the 24 hour commercial channel. Okay, he hadn't liked it at all and this was much better but it didn't mean he wouldn't carry through his threat.

"Shouldn't have done that, pretty girl." The second Jace jumped off the couch, Clary was throwing the remote on to the table and jogging towards the kitchen with a squeal. Jace grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off the ground. Clary kicked her legs in vain and flailed her arms in an attempt to escape. "I warned you." His fingers found their mark at her stomach and Clary couldn't hold it in anymore, she was laughing and screaming.

"Please, please, Jace, please, no." She continued to chant her pleas but Jace wouldn't hear it. Her heel caught his shin and he loosened his grip on her long enough for her to wiggle out of his arms. Recovering from the shock, Jace pounced back on her, catching Clary as they fell onto the couch together.

"Are you going to keep changing it?" He asked darkly in her ear.

Clary was pinned underneath him, it was odd being this close to a girl and having no intent on ripping all her clothes off. That wasn't exactly true, he was a man and he wasn't going to deny that having sex wasn't far from his mind. Especially after almost a month of no sex. It was hard fitting in Clary and other girls, it would get easier once they learned how to be a couple while still being totally platonic.

"Would you stop being an ass and get off me?" Jace could hear the low pitch of her voice, she was thinking about doing non platonic things just as much as he was.

"I have a better idea." He pushed down on her knees until her legs parted underneath him, and he slid between them easily, his arms keeping most of his weight off her small body. "How about we practice something other than hand holding?"

Clary smiled coyly up at him and he swore that it was because he had eaten a bad sandwich earlier that his stomach began to turn. Just as their lips were a breath away from touching, Clary wrapped her legs around him and pulled him closer before she spun them, away from the couch and landing unceremoniously on the ground with him below her. She lifted a pillow above her head.

"You wouldn't-" The rest of his sentence was muffled by the fluffy thing. He remembered Clary bringing them home a week ago and thinking how girly they were but quickly taking a liking to them because they were incredibly soft.

"What the hell?" Jace and Clary looked at Alec and Izzy. The siblings were looking back at them with a mixture of pure joy and amusement. Izzy reached into her back pocket and snapped a picture of the two of them on the ground.

"Help me hide his body after I finish?" Jace snickered at her and Clary proceeded to almost kill him. There wasn't a doubt in Jace's head that Alec and Izzy would help her dump his body in the river when she finished him off.

* * *

 _To Be Continued..._

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own TMI or any of the characters used in this story.**

 **Guys, Seeing Red and Clockwork City are now apparently in a community called 'The Best Mortal Instruments Stories', how cool is that?**

 **Anyways, I hope you're enjoying this fast updating thing because it's going to last all month long.**


	4. Pandemonium Knight

**{Chapter Four}**

 _ **~Clary~**_

"Would you like us to leave you two alone?" Alec smirked from behind Izzy's thin frame. Iz in return swung her arm blindly behind her, whacking Alec in the chest and making him cough. His face took on a look of high offense and she looked proudly at her brother and the redhead straddling his waist. Clary's head was reeling with confusion.

Why was she all of the sudden the center of attention and why was she still sitting on his lap like she was being paid in singles? Both had the same answer, she was losing her goddamn mind and everyone was a witness.

Clary looks down at Jace and the pillow pressed between them. For the first time in the entire interaction she was realizing just how close they were, limbs bent and twisted to fit into each other. Clary's face flushed a deep shade of red. Pushing the pillow further into Jace's chest she attempted to lift herself up. Her legs somehow getting more entangled with his and she couldn't get off the ground.

"Sorry, I'm sorry." Clary fumbles, her elbow digging into his stomach and he winced.

"Ah, that hurt." Clary flinched when he did. Eventually managing to stumble far enough away from Jace so he could roll away from her and onto his knees. "Alec, would you mind more helping and less laughing?"

Alec, who had been leaning against the door cackling, straightened up looking bashful. The smirk still hadn't fall off either of the siblings faces but they weren't outright laughing at them now. "So _what_ were you guys doing exactly?"

Jace mumbled something that sounded like ' _recovering my masculinity is going to be a pain_ ', but Clary ignored him. After helping the blonde stand Alec reached out his hand and Clary grasped it tightly as she stood from the corner of the floor furthest from Jace.

"Aren't we all going out later? I'm going to go shower and...stuff. Yeah, see you guys soon!" Clary scurried away towards her room, a blur to her friends.

She barely caught Izzy whisper after her, "Clary it's two in the afternoon."

The door shut loudly behind Clary, softly clicking the golden lock, she pressed her back into the cool wood with a sigh.

What the hell had just happened?

Clary wasn't the least bit shocked that Jace would want to get laid, although their entire friendship was built on the deal it had only been put into effect a handful of times, what surprised her was that she wasn't repulsed or completely disgusted by the idea of sleeping with him. Clary mentally chastised herself for not kneeing him in the groin when she had the chance. She had felt the ghost of his lips against hers, the grip of his hands on her skin. He radiated warmth and safety. And like radiation, he wasn't good for her.

Voices echoed down the hallway, raising and falling as they carried a hushed conversation she wasn't meant to hear. Clary recognized Jace's low tone and Isabelle's excited pitch, a splash of Alec's dry humor once in awhile. Whatever was going on Isabelle was hyper about it and Jace didn't sound nearly as thrilled.

She hoped that Jace didn't want her to leave. For the past month she had been having a great time with the Lightwood siblings and Jace. She was never one to have an overly large group of friends but the ones she did have were more special to her. She liked shopping with Izzy and helping Alec clean up any mess left by his boyfriend- who she was hoping to meet tonight. After everything she heard about this mystery man in Alec's life she was excited to meet him.

Being near Jace was comfortable. He made her laugh. When they were on the floor, tangled up together in a knot of human limbs, it was warm. The door had shaken her out of her paralysis. The way Jace had stared down at her, his gaze drifting from her lips down to her hands, like he was amazed that she was touching him. That she was real. Clary didn't know if Jace knew he was doing it or not but his thumbs had drawn slow circles on her skin and the pattern was hypnotizing. Her labored breaths ringing around the space between them in a silent plea. Clary was begging for him to touch her but also for him to stay away from her.

Clary didn't know how long she'd been sitting there, on the cold ground, thinking about what almost happened before she'd savagely beaten him with a pillow. The voices drifted from the front door again and faded into silence after a mechanical clicking. There was an uncomfortable quiet outside the door. It felt like it was pressing down all around her, her thoughts closing in. Clary couldn't shake the feeling that she'd done something wrong. Clary leered up at the door above her as footsteps approached.

They were too heavy for Izzy and too fast and unmeasured for Alec.

Clary heard Jace freeze in front of her door, she could practically feel the tension from her body seeping through the cracks where the door met the frames. Clary could picture Jace, hand raised and brows scrunched up in concern. She lifted her head up, shifting her feet to stand. She meant to open the door but her feet carried her to the ensuite bathroom instead.

She knew she was hiding but she just needed a few more minutes to calm down and stop thinking about her roommate in an inappropriate way. She couldn't think about Jace like anything other than a friend, he wasn't the relationship type and she wasn't the casual type. They wouldn't fit- like mismatched puzzle pieces.

Sitting at the edge of the toilet cover, Clary leaned over and turned the metal knob of the shower. Cold water sprayed against the porcelain. She listened carefully, waiting for a knock or a rude opening of the door, but it never came. After a few minutes, Clary stripped off her clothes and stepped into the tub, turning the water temperature to her liking.

 **~o.O.o~**

Jace watched Clary's impassive face as she shut herself into her room, digging his fingers into his hair, his elbows painfully stationed on his knees. Signing heavily, Jace rose from the couch. The second Jace cracked his eyes open Isabelle's infamous heels came into play.

"Awe, look at little Jacey-wacey, Alec." Iz spoke to him like a small child, even going as far as to pinch his cheeks apart and squish them back together. The whole time grinning wildly. "Are you trying to corrupt our lovable Clary-berry with-" Izzy made a pouty face, pursing her lips together, "-your nasty boy cooties?"

"First of all, what's with the weird nicknames and grade school treatment all of the sudden? Second, that was a purely platonic pillow fight over the television remote. You guys just walked in at an inconvenient and provocative point. Don't get creepy." He said pleadingly.

Glancing behind Iz he could see the black screen of the tv. Damn traitor must have turned off during the fight. Alec saw where he was looking and shared a look with his sister that clearly said they didn't believe him about the tv remote.

"Was there a better time you would have liked us to drop by?" His sister mocked him with an innocent look on her face.

"I would thank you kindly if you'd at least knock next time, Iz."

"Blah blah blah, Jace, in one ear and out the other. All I heard was _next time_. I'm going to go get your pretty girlfriend in the tightest dress she owns. Or, more likely, one I own." Iz walked into the hallway before freezing and turning back to her best friends. "Make sure my brother isn't too drunk by the time we get to Pandemonium."

Jace mumbled incoherently. Alec figured it had something to do with his sister referring to Clary as his girlfriend.

"Let's head out blondie, I need copious amounts of alcohol to fill my empty soul."

Jace grinned as he grabbed onto his leather jacket and headed towards the door.

 **~o.O.o~**

When Clary finished her shower she nervously fingered the edge of the towel. Was she overreacting? It wasn't so strange for her to physically play around with her friends- Simon and her would always screw around, often resulting in hurt joints and feelings. But when Iz and Alec walked in on her and Jace it felt different. Like being caught in an intimate moment with your significant other. Something Jace _was not_ and wouldn't be.

No matter how much she repeated that to herself it didn't feel completely true. Which was insane, they hadn't known each other for even a full year yet! Although she spent almost all her time with him, with an occasional break to see the Lightwoods and Simon.

A constant knocking sounded through her room, rolling her eyes Clary replaced the towel with her robe. Clary hoped it wasn't Jace- she didn't know how to act natural while only wearing a towel with what had just happened. A little part was worried that all the time spent with free spirited Isabelle would make her do something completely idiotic, like jump his perfectly stupid body. She wondered if he was even affected.

Slightly berating herself she shook the thoughts away, attempting a semblance of normal, as she reached the door she took a deep breath and gripped the knob. Her false smile turned genuine when she was met with her raven haired friend.

"Wow, you look like trash." Clary laughed as she stepped inside the doorway.

"I almost exclusively look like trash, Iz."

"Not true but don't worry I have magical makeup skills. But first, clothes!" Isabelle beelined towards Clary's closet, swinging the doors open hard enough for the resonating bang to make Clary jump in her furry robe. Clary moved to sit on her duvet whilst avoiding the colorful shrapnel the other girl was tossing over her shoulders.

Suddenly Iz stopped and turned sharply to gap at Clary. Self consciously the redhead wrapped herself further into the fabric of her bed. Her slim fingers held up a dark blue tee shirt with the words 'Stiles Stilinski & Lydia Martin & Allison Argent & Scott McCall'.

"What?" Clary glanced down at her clipped nail polish. She'd been watching Teen Wolf since she was a kid, not her fault that she tended to express her obsession through a vast tee shirt collection. Mainly packed into the corners of her closet to keep from prying eyes.

Like Isabelle's when she got the urge to play life size Barbie dress up.

"No 'Derek Hale' or 'Malia Tate'? To think I called you my friend."

"It's the original quartet!"

Then it started. The longest few hours in her life. Iz picked out at least a dozen possible outfits for her shorter friend, choosing to ignore her when Clary said she couldn't pick out her underwear too. Iz was a professional and that meant Clary had no choice.

"Are you sure this looks okay?" Clary squirmed in the vanity chair while Isabelle smoothly flicked the large bristled brush over the apples of her cheeks. It created the illusion of a rosy natural blush. "I've never had so much _stuff_ on my face, I feel like it's going to slide down any minute and become a puddle on the floor."

Isabelle ignored her, having gotten used to the nervous babbling after applying the foundation. Clary sat as still as possible, her fingers scratching the edges of the robe sleeves and her knees bouncing. Clary wasn't sure how she'd survived sitting there for so long- having her friend poke her eyes with different brushes and pen like contraptions.

It wasn't that she didn't like make up, it was more that her mother had never liked make up. She didn't want Clary growing up with artificial colors on her face and because of that Clary never really learned what to do with all the powders and creams and brushes.

"I'm almost done, then we try on the outfits." Isabelle sounded giddy and Clary eyed the dresses carelessly flung on the made bed in horror.

Cringing as Isabelle made sure to keep Clary from seeing her reflection- what if Iz secretly hated her and made her look like a panda? The closer they got to ten, the more jittery the petite girl became. There wouldn't be enough time to start over and she didn't want to miss Alec's birthday or stand Jace up for their totally friends only date. Not that she didn't have full faith in Isabelle. "I think you grew up playing with too many dolls."

"Not nearly enough to turn me off of the life size version with you." Clary stood beside Iz as the black haired girl inspected each dress. Pulling and pushing the hangers of fabric towards Clary's body. She frowned and tossed two of the lighter colored textiles towards the closet.

Clary's fingers yearned to pick them up and put them back on their hangers but she held still for Izzy, more scared of her than OCD.

The remaining materials were extremely short and in a range of dark colors. Clary not only didn't remember ever buying any of them but she also wasn't sure how they had crawled into her closet and when. Clary wondered if it was too late to wear an amish dress.

"Put this on." Iz held out a brown shaded dress towards Clary. The redhead glanced down at one of the perfect curls falling into her line of sight and then towards the cloth. She scrunched up her nose in distaste- it wouldn't match. Isabelle seemed to follow her train of thought and nodded in understanding as she chucked it.

"We don't have that much time so choose." Iz held out two similar looking black cliftons. Clary pondered for a moment before grabbing the longer one. Not that either was past mid thigh but this one looked a little closer to her knees and that made her calmer.

Clary turned to walk into her bathroom before a thought occurred to her. "Aren't you going to change too?"

"I live upstairs! And I already have my clothes picked out." Shrugging her off Clary walked into the marble lined room. The robe pooled around her feet and Clary stared at her expanse of pale skin in the mirror. The contrasting fabric felt smooth in her thin hands.

"Hurry up, Fray! I'm not getting any younger!" Huffing out a frustrated breath Clary pulled the dress up, wiggling her hips to propel the clifton higher. The fabric bunched underneath her bust and Clary realized the built in bra wouldn't work well with her current bra. Unclipping it Clary ran the straps down her arms before letting it drop on the floor, next to her robe.

Once the dress was in place Clary uncomfortably pulled the hem lower, which only resulted in the neckline to lower and expose more velvet skin. Cringing Clary called out, "Do you think I could wear a jacket? Or a turtleneck…" Whispering the last part knowing full well that her friend would break down the door if she heard.

"No! Come out here I want to see you!" Pulling at her curls to hide her cleavage, Clary slowly made her way to the door. When she opened the wooden frame she was met with a high pitched screech. "You look amazing! Shoes and then we go!"

Clary tiredly watched as her dark haired friend dug through her extensive high tops collection. Several times Isabelle glanced at her with an unbelievable expression when she came across the only pair of heels- wedges, which according to her didn't count.

"We are going to my place, I need to get dressed and you need real heels. That can break a man's neck." Clary followed Iz out of her apartment with a growing sense of despair.

 **~o.O.o~**

Alec shot his head back as the liquid burned down his throat. Slamming the shot glass on the light splattered bar. "What's up with you and Little Red?"

Jace's body tingled from the alcohol. "Clary and I are just friends. Nothing else.." Alec gave him a look that clearly said he didn't believe him but that he'd drop it for the moment. Alec had known him for years so it was stupid to assume he wouldn't be able to tell that Jace hadn't been acting like himself for a while.

"There's your friend now." Alec waved his sister and Clary down to where they sat in Pandemonium. Jace rolled his eyes heavens way and spun his stool to look at his roommate and Isabelle. And the view made his lungs stop contracting and he was almost entirely certain that his tongue was halfway down his esophagus.

She looked sinfully angelic.

Nothing of the sweet girl next door who wore fuzzy socks religiously was evident in the fiery haired woman walking towards him. She shook her head to clear stray tufts of hair away from her face and laughed at something Izzy was saying, biting her blood red lip when a light flush spread along her cheeks.

The clinking of her booted heels sounded in his ears, matching the beat of his heart. Smooth thighs peaked beneath the hem of her wrap-around dress. The black ink of the fabric lightened her facial features, making her skin glow eternally. The smokey makeup around her eyes made the forest green shine against the club lights. Her hair was pinned artfully on the crown of her head. Her smile was highlighted by matte. A white gold locket shown towards him, bouncing lightly with her steps against her bust. Instinctually making Jace's eyes drop to the tops of her breasts. His mouth watered just thinking about the plush skin under the thin material.

She didn't look like Clary- hell, she wasn't Clary. Everything about this woman was a contrast to his Clary. There was nothing comforting about her, just heat.

" _Friend_ , huh?" Jace's mouth was as dry as sandpaper. He tried to turn his head towards his best friend but when Clary spotted him she smiled. This incredible megawatt smile that reminded him of sunshine on a warm summer's day and his insides turned to liquid.

Jace wasn't the type of person who believed in eye opening moments, but looking at the girl he's spent months fighting over the remote with, watching her walk around their apartment in shorts and furry socks and black rimmed glasses, looking at him like he hung the moon made his throat retract as he tried to swallow back.

"Hello birthday boy." Isabelle wrapped her arm around her brother's neck and planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek. Alec shook with laughter as his arm wrung around Iz's waist.

Jace watched Clary as she leaned over to wish Alec a happy birthday and hugged him, maneuvering around Isabelle's arms. When she pulled away she turned her attention to the honey haired man next to her. "Hey you."

"Hey." Thankful that his voice wasn't hoarse, he gave her his most charming smile, unaware of the knowing look their best friends exchanged behind their backs.

Without thinking Jace leaped away from the grinning siblings and alcoholic bar. Grabbing hold of her hand he led Clary towards the middle of the dance floor. She squealed when her heels awkwardly twisted in order to follow behind him and he had to keep her upright. Jace laughed at her worried expression.

"Don't go so fast!" Jace stopped in the middle of an alcove of gyrating bodies. His smirk was infectious and before long Clary was beaming along side him. They moved to the music trying to keep a respectful distance from one another and failing. Unable to stop each other from getting closer as more sweat covered bodied enclosed around them.

Jace's head was swimming with her scent, his slick skin sticking to his tee shirt. Jace reached out his arm and pulled Clary into his chest. She hesitated for a minute before pushing herself closer. Her forearm loosely wrapped around his neck and the other holding onto his bicep. He stared into her glazed eyes and tightened his hands on her hips.

Clary bit her lip and Jace's eyes darkened as he stared at it. He wanted to bite the plump flesh and pull it away from her teeth. He wanted to kiss her.

"What are we doing, Jace?" Her breath carried around him. Strawberries. She smelled like strawberries and something else- something he couldn't point out, something that reminded him of pancakes and rainy days and the warmth of her hand in his. Something distinctly Clary.

"Dancing, we're just dancing." But even as the words left his mouth Jace knew he wasn't being entirely honest with either of them.

Although Clary nodded as if she believed him, the look in her eyes told him she knew he wasn't as completely honest. Subconsciously he drew her into himself, trying to hold on to her. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, moving her soft curves to the pounding of the music- against Jace's rough body. He growled when her hip brushed against his arousal, her arms pulling his face closer to hers.

"Are you trying to kiss me, Miss Fray?"

"Do you want me to kiss you, Mr Herondale?" Jace gently pulled several pins away from her hair, watching as the waves washed along her shoulders. Messy and familiar. His fingers tangled and disappeared at the nape of her head. Jace felt her nose bump into his and he couldn't remember the last time he had let himself build up the moment before a kiss.

Her eyes were misted over with mirth. Jace matched her toothy grin. Clary angled her head in invitation and Jace couldn't stop smiling the closer he got to her lips.

Then Clary was being yanked out of his arms by none other than his little sister. His sister who was now dead to him and wouldn't be getting a Christmas present. "Let's do shots!"

Before Jace or Clary could argue Izzy was stomping towards the bar with the redhead in tow via wrist clamp and handing her a shot of something called a 'blowjob'. The name wasn't helping Jace's southern regions. It only got worse when Clary gulped down the entire shot and, looking at him, licked some of the whipped cream away from her bottom lip.

Jace felt like he needed to jump into the ocean.

"You have a fan!" Clary shouted over the music as Izzy slid another shot into her hand, pretending like she wasn't listening into their conversation.

"A fan?" Jace looked at her confused. Throwing her head back she swallowed and breathed out something that sounded like a moan. Pointing behind him with a black painted finger. Turning his head slowly Jace made eye contact with a blonde on the other side of the bar.

"Ge get her, cowboy." Clary pushed at his shoulder and turned back to Iz before he could say anything back to her.

Women were confusing. One minute you're dancing and flirting and the next they're pointing you in the direction of another girl. Jace supposed that was the original deal he had with Clary, this was why she was there in the first place.

It was too loud in the club for Clary to hear him leave but she felt it. The constant warmth that she felt when he was around was gone. It was all too much. The dancing, the almost kiss, the hunger in his eyes when he watched her.

"Why would you do that, you idiot?" Clary shrugged, refusing to look back to Jace or at the girl who transformed her into the beautiful swan.

"Hey, I think Magnus is finally here!" She pointed to the small table Alec had been occupying by the door. A brightly dressed man with spiked up black hair was hugging the birthday boy and with a flourish of his hand, Alec was holding a long stemmed rose.

Isabelle sent a pointed look at what Clary assumed was a flirting Jace and swooning blonde. "Don't you think you should-"

"I want to go meet him, let's go." Rolling her eyes Isabelle walked to her brother.

"Mags, this is our new friend, Clary. Clary this is my boyfriend-" Apparently cutting people off was something Clary was making an unhealthy habit of.

When Clary was close enough to see his face, the defining catlike eyes surrounded by glitter and a thick outline of eyeliner, she recognized him immediately. "Brooks?"

"Addie!" His eyes were wide but so was his grin, he pulled her into a hug.

"How have you been? Last time I saw you, you were heading to Madrid for your cousin Ragnor's wedding to that god awful golddigger."

"Last time I saw you, I remember you and Catarina being arrested for vandalism on government property while Will was trying to talk them out of pressing charges." She remembered that day perfectly, it was a week after high school graduation and their group of friends had decided to do some congratulatory spray paint art. What they hadn't known was that the wall they picked while tipsy was actually a church.

"You've been arrested?" Isabelle turned to her with saucer wide eyes and a new gleam in them that Clary was afraid to know why it was there.

"You know each other? Who the hell are Brooks and Addie?"

Magnus launched on a, highly exaggerated, story of how they had known each other in high school. Running with the same group of artistic wannabes all four years. How the two of them thought their middle names were cooler when drunk and started using Adele and Brooks as an inside joke. Clary felt stupid for not putting two and two together quicker. How many glitter wearing eccentric Magnus' did she know not to realize it was him?

All the while none of them noticed the pair of golden eyes following Clary.

 **~o.O.o~**

Hours later Jace groaned awake.

Wrapping his arms tighter around the smaller body next to him, the blonde dug his head further into her shoulder and sighed at the delicate skin. She twitched and pulled herself deeper into his warmth. She moved several more times before moaning lightly and adjusting her head on his upper arm. "Stop wigglying or this is going to be an awkward morning, pretty girl."

She giggled and turned her head to look at him, Her eyes were rimmed by the smudged make up from the night before but Jace didn't give a damn about it. She looked gorgeous. "The spring in this cushion is poking me more than you."

"Clary," He twisted the small redhead to face him, grinning at the burning in her cheeks. "We danced until 3a.m. My legs are on fire, this couch is hurting my back and I'm about ready to pitch a tent the size of Canada on your ass, if I wasn't suffering from alcohol dick, it would already happening. Next time we're too tired to make it to bed- we go with the floor."

Clary nodded her head tiredly before cuddling closer into his chest. Her leg was wedged between his and Jace ran his fingers over her spine. The doorbell cracked their peaceful Sunday morning. Glaring at the unseen intrusion, Clary pushed herself up and trudged across the living room. Swinging the door open to meet the faces of the Lightwood twins. "What?"

Isabelle's jaw dropped at the view of her two best friends.

Clary's eye makeup bled down her face the more she rubbed them, fiery hair tangled in a messy bun on the top of her head. A oversized black tee shirt hanging off her thin frame, Clary stifled a yawn as she scratched the back of her neck.

Glancing behind her friend, Izzy's eyes popped halfway out of her head. There, balanced on him elbows, perched Jace. Completely naked besides the pair of flimsy boxers. His jeans and Clary's dress were scrunched up on the floor along with their shoes.

"Did you guys..?"

"We'll be leaving now, carry on!" Alec began to pull at his sister. His face matching Clary's hair. The girl glanced back at her roommate.

"We didn't sleep together. Here's what happened…"

* * *

 _To Be Continued..._

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or TMI.**

 **Two chapters in one night, love me.**

 **Guys, I'm going to finish this story this month. Are you afraid because I'm afraid. This is going to be the first complete story I have on here! Follow and Favorite and please review! Oh, and check out my other stories! I have more for The Mortal Instruments, Harry Potter, Merlin, Game of Thrones and Divergent. And I have another FF account, Levi Dreyar, where I post anime fics so if you're into that then please go check it out so I get a kick in the ass about being more active on there.**

 **Also, all of you need to keep in mind that weeks/months are going by between chapters for these dipshits so the romance is a little quick on the trigger. If you want slow and stead I would suggest _Clockwork City,_ you'll hate me for the snail speed then. See you soon!**


	5. Date Night

**{Chapter Five}**

 **~ _Clary~_**

"And your excuse for this whole half naked cuddling thing is, and tell me if I get anything wrong, you were just _too_ tired to make it to your own rooms after you have an _impromptu_ water fight in the middle of the night?" Clary and Jace glanced at one another before looking back at Isabelle and nodding as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Okay, guys, sounds fake, but okay."

"You're seeing things that aren't there, Izzy." Clary sat next to Jace's legs and caught his smile when she placed her hand on top of the blanket where his feet were. He liked having her touch him. Even in a nonsexual way which was a little new and frightening for him.

Isabelle's eyes locked on Clary's hand and the redhead stilled the lazy finger movements. "Or maybe you're the ones who aren't seeing what's right in front of you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jace said between his grit teeth. He liked Clary, sure, she was a cool girl but it wasn't like he was about to pop a baby in her and move to the suburbs. Although the baby making process wasn't out of the question.

He stared Iz down, daring her to continue questioning them. They already told her what happened after they left Pandemonium.

They had been tired of the club in the early morning hours and decided to walk home, Clary couldn't feel her feet anymore because of the devil horns on her heels so he gave her his converse, and when they got home she hadn't wanted to give them back. Jace had been holding a glass of water and one thing led to another. The next thing they knew they were soaking wet and panting on the ground. The couch had looked like a good idea and stripping down seemed like the _best_ idea. Which it had been, until Jace realized he wouldn't be able to fall asleep if she was that naked and pressed up next to him. Thus, tee shirt solution.

"Nothing! Get dress or you'll both be late to class. Have a great day," Alec pushed Isabelle down the hall before a fight broke out between his siblings. "With clothes on. _All day long._ " Alec amended quickly, his face still a bright shade of red.

When the door shut behind Alec, Jace didn't know what to expect. Would she recoil back to her room like yesterday? Clary Fray was an enigma and Jace waited anxiously for her to decide if he was worth her time. She didn't say anything for a long time. Just sat there, drawing patterns with her fingers. Her hands were gentle but there was an edge to her.

"Are you okay?" His voice was low and smooth. Clary finally turned to look at him. The sun God, Apollo came to mind when she looked at him. His unimaginable golden eyes frame with thick lashes and sunkissed skin; his messy bronze locks stuck up in odd angles but Jace Herondale was still the most heartbreakingly beautiful man Clary had ever seen.

"Deciding if it's worth putting clothes on to go to class." Clary muttered softly, deciding Alec's accidental reminder before he left was the safest conversation topic.

Jace didn't know what was happening between them but he felt warm and safe when she was around and that was a feeling Jace desperately wanted to hold onto for as long as possible. Jace pretended to think about her problem but the truth was, he already knew his answer. "Not worth it, come here."

Without giving herself a chance to run away Clary crawled to her previous place against his chest. Sighing when he wrapped his strong arms around her, Clary felt him throw the blanket over them but she was already drifting back to sleep before his head fell back on their pillow.

Jace watched her chest rise and fall with each breath she took. Tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear he buried himself in the scent of Clary Fray and fell asleep beside her.

 **~o.O.o~**

"Are you always like this in bed?" Jace squeezed her waist closer and buried his nose into her hair. She smelled divine, the same strawberry scent lingered and the sweet fragrance of Clary. Her body fit into his under the blanket and Jace willed himself not to think about how well she fit against him because if he did then Clary would feel just how much he enjoyed it.

"First, this is a couch. Second, like what?" Clary twisted her head towards him, his nose now on the column of her neck. He felt her swallow, throat bobbing and the slightest taste of her skin touched his lips.

Groaning Jace rubbed her hip and sighed at the contact. "Shifting, turning, twitching. It's like you think you're risking the safety of the free world if you sit still for a few minutes."

Clary rolled her eyes at his dramatics and tried to breathe calmly with his calloused skin gently touching her. "How would you know I'm not?"

"One way to test it." He smirked.

Clary was a little apprehensive by the look in his eyes. "What do you mean test?"

Clary felt something growing in her chest the longer she stayed in his arms. He could be kind when he wanted to be and recently Jace had been nothing but sweet. Not counting his regular jackassery. His smiles grew more genuine and the weight of his fingers between her's was natural. She liked when he picked her up from class and she liked spending time with him. Clary listened to him breathe to calm herself.

Standing up away from her Clary blinked, confused. She squealed when his arms lifted her up from the couch. "What are you doing? Put me down!"

"Fixing your first point." Clary covered her face with her hands as he carried her towards the bedroom. She hadn't imagined being in his bed for an experiment. Not that she imagined herself in his bed for any reason!

When Jace dropped her onto the cool covers she felt his shirt slide up her thighs and quickly covered her underwear. She waited for him to join her but he didn't Rising on her elbows she stared at him as he scurried out of the room. "Where are you going?"

"Just sit tight! I'll be right back!" He called back from the other room.

Clary didn't want to be the type of girl who asked the age old question, _what are we?_ But she couldn't help but think about it. They had danced glued to one another all night, had a tipsy water fight and take each other's clothes off before falling asleep cuddled up on the couch. Clary had to believe that he didn't do that with all of his other friends. What startled her was that Jace hadn't gone home with the leggy girl from the bar. That meant something, right?

She shook her head, Clary had to remind herself that Jace Herondale hadn't had a girlfriend in years. He probably thought this was just a normal thing that girlfriends did when they hung out or maybe he just liked having a half naked girl next to him.

Clary needed to stop pretending like Jace saw her as anything other than his roommate and morning after repellant. Maybe he just liked to be physical. She wasn't in a romance movie and Clary Fray was not the girl boys fell in love with. Her ex was the best example for why she needed to steer clear of the skid. Resting her head on her knees, her back digging into the wooden headboard rather uncomfortably, she didn't notice when her blonde companion stumbled into his room, a handful of cases in his hands. When he spotted her, Jace dropped the dvd's on the corner of the bed.

"Hey," His hands brushed away her hair from her face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah! Just lost myself in my head. What did you get?" She forced her muscles to relax and tried to look over his shoulder. Half a dozen movies were scattered on the covers.

"I figured since we are going to be bad kids and skip school we should do it the right way." He said reaching behind him and pulling _Harry Potter_ in front of his face. "Let's emotionally torture ourselves."

Clary kicked her legs under the blanket and watched him put in the first movie. When he crawled in next to her she didn't know what to do. Cuddle his side again or sit three feet away from him? The decision was taken out of her hands when Jace gently tugged her with an arm around her waist. He breathed out a sigh.

They made it through the first three movies before they had a falling out.

"No, no, no." Jace turned off the dvd player. "We aren't watching anymore unless you admit you're only saying that because you don't like Ron."

"That is a lie! Ron is a great friend but Hermione and him don't work. Draco has gone through a lot- speaking from the movies and books- and he deserves to be happy. Hermione would challenge him and make him want to be a better person."

"You only think that because Tom Felton is dreamy." Jace rolled his eyes while turning on the Xbox and grabbing the controllers.

"I resent that accusation." She crossed her legs and held out her hand. They had set up her Xbox in the living room and Jace squirreled away his into his bedroom. Thankfully he left all the games with hers.

"Can you deny it?" Jace withheld the controller until she answered.

"He is _dreamy_ ," She used his word mockingly. "But he's also fucking amazing as a human being so bite me."

"Is that an invitation?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and grinned.

Jace sat next to her as the game screen popped up. "Do you want it to be?"

She watched his eyes flicker to her lips for a moment before he leaned forward. For a second Clary was scared that he was messing with her, that he would pull away at the last moment and laugh at her for thinking he could ever kiss her. Then she felt his breath on her lips and she closed the space between them. She expected sizzling heat and an overwhelming feeling to fuck his brains out then and there, which granted she felt the majority of the time around him now. Instead it was soft and sweet. His lips tasted like sugar and coffee. It was a chaste kiss, her eyes had barely fluttered closed before he was pulling away.

Looking at him with her lips tingling and hand limply holding the controller felt normal. Jace looked at her and smiled. A genuine smile with all his perfectly white teeth out on display. Shyly, Clary smiled back, her hand scratching the nape of her neck.

"You ready for me to kick your ass in Battlefront, pretty girl?"

"I think you have that backwards, pretty boy." She snickered at his offended expression.

Jace was certain he had actually swallowed his tongue this time around, imagine his surprise when he heard himself joke with her about a video game. A part of his brain couldn't even remember what a video game was, let alone how to kick someone's ass in it, because he had just kissed Clary fucking Fray.

Looking at it now all day was a weird experience. A good day but a weird one nonetheless. He didn't cuddle with girls and he didn't watch movies in his bed with them wondering if they could hear how loud his heart was beating. He definitely didn't play video games half naked on his bed, he did other things naked on his bed. And Jace Herondale never, ever kissed girls _sweetly_. But today he had and he didn't feel pressured to do more than what he was giving her. No fancy dates or extravagant gifts.

She had cleaned off her smeared makeup between movies and her hair was in it's signature bun with her glasses perched on her nose. Clary wasn't trying to impress him or push him into anything he didn't want, she was just _there_ being Clary. Sitting on his bed, wearing his shirt, and kicking his ass in Battlefront.

"You aren't even trying! What happened to kicking my ass?" She laughed when the game declared the Galactic Empire victorious again. For whatever reason she had decided that being in the Empire was better than the rebellion.

"Why did you pick the Empire anyways, they're the bad guys?" Jace leaned back to his pillow, watching her shrug and drop the controller.

"In middle school, Simon and I built a 3D model of the Death Star and let me tell you, that shit was hard. I hate the rebellion because okay, I get it, it's a giant Death Star that kills planets and people but could you imagine how long it took the Empire to build it? I would want revenge against Luke too."

"Oh my god," He whispered horrified. Clary looked at him in question, resting her head next to his. "You're a total geek. I kissed a total _geek_."

Clary looked in thought for a moment before kissing him briefly. The light touch of her soft mouth over his made his breath stop. She grinned evilly. "Twice."

" _Twice_! I'm ruined. What have you condemned me to?" He sounded upset but the grin pulling at his mouth told her he wasn't actually mad.

"Says the guy who owns all of the Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars original box sets. I would hardly say I've ruined you. You were a geek before kissing me." Jace played absentmindedly with a tendril of her hair.

"Maybe you're just a rubbish kisser and it's taking longer for my uber geek status to kick in, ever thought of that?" Pulling her glasses off her face he blindly placed them on the nightstand and moved in closer, his nose touching hers.

"Rubbish, really?" Clary scrunched up her nose and Jace thought it made her look rather cute. "If your kisses lasted more than three seconds I could really get my geeky claws into you. Maybe I'll even get you to watch Stargate."

"Don't threaten me." Whatever her reply was about to leave her pretty lips was swallowed by his hungry mouth. Their first two kisses were like Jace was dipping his toe into the water to check the temperature but now that Jace knew the steaming hot water, he was jumping headfirst and not looking back.

He rolled on top of Clary, falling in the crevice between her thighs. His hand traveled down to wrap around her silky smooth leg and hitch it higher on his hip, groaning into her mouth when she used said leg to push him closer. Jace kissed the corner of her lip and nibbled down her jaw and continued to her neck. Clary's fingers dug and grasped onto the short strands of his hair trying to pull his head back up to her lips. Jace gave a dark and throaty chuckle when he left her lips again, "How is that for three seconds?"

"Not nearly long enough for me to judge properly." They both moved for each other, lips crashing together. As much as Jace would love nothing more than to lay there kissing her and touching her, he couldn't sleep with her.

Not yet at least.

He had just decided to accept that he liked her as more than a friend and the girl he'd been living with for months. He had just broken his rules about not cuddling and not spending time with a girl outside of sex. He couldn't treat her like the girls from before. Clary Fray wasn't a ditzy girl in a bar. She was nice and funny and smart. He knew her nervous ticks and strange habits. He liked how she smelled and he loved the breathy little sighs that left her when he bit her lip. Those weren't things he knew or liked with other girls.

He wasn't the relationship type, never had been, but when he gazed down at Clary's glazed green eyes he was smitten. _Maybe he hadn't been the relationship type before because he hadn't had the chance to mistake Clary Fray for a boy yet._

There was a loud knock at the front door and Jace held onto Clary tighter, "If we keep really quiet they'll go away." Clary giggled and Jace decided that if the airy feeling in his chest was anything to go by he loved the sound.

His phone began to ring from the living room and Jace buried his face in her neck. There went the idea of pretending not to be home. Clary wiggled out from underneath him and Jace missed the warmth immediately.

"I'll get it, you put clothes on." Jace was going to tell her that she still wasn't wearing anything decent either. Just his tee shirt, not even a bra, for fucksake. Then again maybe if she opened the door like that whoever it was would go away. When he heard the voice from the other room Jace knew their day was over.

Clary rushed down the hallway and poked her head in, "We forgot about tonight and Alec is here and I'm practically naked." She uncontrollably whispered before disappearing into her own room with a slam of the door.

Jace groaned and jumped into a pair of jeans he pulled off a hanger. Normally he would have strolled through the apartment shirtless and not given a care but their friends were coming over for dinner and it was important to Clary. She had only given him two jobs for tonight.

One, to wear appropriate clothes. Which he was doing by putting the cotton shirt over his head. Two, to make his Italian pasta sauce for the lasagna. It was one of the only things he knew how to cook and he was close to perfecting the recipe.

"I thought we talked about keeping clothes on." Alec said, leaning against the doorframe.

"No, you talked and we listened." Jace turned to the bed that Alec was eyeing. The covers were messy and the evidence of their movie and videogame day was all over the floor. "And then ignored you."

"Jace, what are you doing with Clary? You aren't acting like yourself."

"Is that such a bad thing?" Alec looked surprised at his best friend. Jace was always the first one to defend his lifestyle- being adamant that it was the best way to live fully. From woman to woman. "She's nice." He said in a way of explanation.

Clary appeared behind them, blissfully unaware of their conversation. She had changed into a loose white tee shirt and tights. Clary grinned at them and waved her hand towards the kitchen. "Come and keep me company while I cook."

Jace felt an answering smile tug at the corner of his lip, "Lead the way, pretty girl."

Clary rolled her eyes at the endearment but walked away anyways. Alec looked at him intently and asked, "Pretty girl?"

Instead of answering Jace shouldered his way past Alec and to the kitchen. Clary was pulling bowls from cupboards and ingredients from the fridge. She was making good timing, cutting romaine lettuce into fine strips for the salad, and turning the stove on to preheat.

"Jace, start on the sauce," She pointed at the tomatoes sitting on the counter.

"I distinctly remember you asking me to keep you company, not cook." Clary glared and threw a crouton that hit him in the nose. "Why are you so violent? Jesus."

They moved elegantly around one another in the kitchen. Alec watched their dance of chopping knives and alternating movements without bumping into each other. They were collected and focused on the cooking but they occasionally joked and smiled.

When Clary finished the salad and the preparations for the pasta, she hopped up onto the counter with a carefully balanced wine glass on her thigh. "Why are you here so early?"

"Sorry. Magnus got called into his office for an emergency and I didn't want to hang out by myself. Did I interrupt anything?" Alec asked in sham innocence.

"Oh, no," Jace smirked into the pot of boiling sauce. Her voice had cracked. "We were playing video games." She said more convincingly.

Jace thought he would be gentlemanly and let her off the hook she strung herself on. "What was the emergency at Magnus' office?"

"Bride accidentally lose five pounds and her wedding is in two weeks. Magnus had to to an immediate waist trim and then he started talking about lace and I just tuned out." Alec poured himself a glass of wine and sipped as he sat at the dining table.

"Magnus owns a wedding planning business, why is he doing the tailoring himself?"

"He used to be a designer, but then expanded." Clary nodded. "This woman is Bridezilla 2.0. She's paying a fortune for Magnus to work on everything personally. She calls in the middle of the night because she had a dream that plain vanilla would make her wedding boring, she changed the venue twice, and last night she decided that lilies aren't what she wants for her bridesmaids. Magnus was up all night making a dozen gardenia bouquets."

"Alec does this monster have a name?" Jace laughed, sprinkling parsley into the mix.

"Lauren Von Arnim."

"No shit?" Clary asked. "Her wedding has been in the tabloids all month."

"She's an annoying little-" Alec was cut off by the ring of his cell phone. "It's Magnus."

Clary grinned into her glass when Alec disappeared into the hall. She poured herself another glass and swung her legs happily over the counter. Her sweet voice began to hum the same melody that had been stuck in Jace's head for weeks.

"What song are you humming?" He stirred gently, turning to look at her. Her head turned and her cheeks burned. Like she hadn't noticed she was doing it at all.

"Let It All Go by Birdy and Rhodes. You've never heard it?" Her eyes were soft and her lips were wine stained. Feet bouncing off the drawers.

"Not your version." He replied breathlessly.

She smiled at him, her eyes drifting to the apron wrapped around his waist. Clary's smile widened. "You look cute when you're cooking."

" _Cute_? I'm not a puppy or a girl. I'm not _cute_." Jace spat out the word in disgust.

"You are! You're cute!" She shouted. Neither of them noticing the smirking figure that emerged from the hallway, watching them curiously.

"Take that back," He threatened her with the sauce covered spoon. Clary shook her head, not believing he would actually wipe the spoon on her. She was proven wrong when the thick liquid slid down her cheek. Squealing Clary pushed aside her empty wine glass and reached up to clean it off her face.

Jace licked it off before she had a chance with a booming laugh when she cringed away from him. "Gross! Jace!"

Although she couldn't help but laugh with him.

 **~o.O.o~**

At eight Simon showed up to their penthouse. The lasagna was almost done baking and the rest of the table was set. Clary welcomed Simon with a hug and kiss on the cheek, something Jace wasn't expecting to make his stomach turn unpleasantly.

He shook Simon's hand in a tighter grip than he meant to.

"Oh hey, Jace?" Clary called out to him from the dining table. "Why are there seven place settings? I thought it was going to be just the six of us tonight."

"Shit, I'm sorry, Clary. I forgot to tell you. I invited my old roommate to dinner. I haven't seen him in a while. I hope it's okay." He expected her to yell at him. It seemed like a woman who worked on a special dinner for her friends should be legitimately mad at him for, just inviting someone else and not telling her. Then again this was Clary.

"Sure, I wish you'd told me though. I would have made more desert." She simply shrugged her slim shoulders and turned back to righting the glasses.

One by one their friends arrived, all except Jace's old roommate and Magnus. Though Alec ensured them that his boyfriend would be there soon, a slight awkward blush on the apples of his cheeks. Iz just laughed at him and promised they would wait for Magnus before eating.

Magnus knocked on the door breathless from running up the stairs fifteen minutes later. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you wait too long."

Magnus kissed Alec soundly and Clary's heart melted at the sight. They were such a solid and happy couple. She could see how happy they were with each other and how they made one another better. Iz told her that Alec was becoming more social and that Magnus wasn't as eccentric as before. They balanced perfectly. Clary wished to find that someday. Her eyes unconsciously slid across the room to Jace.

 _Maybe someday_.

There was another pair of footsteps in the hall outside of their apartment before a man walked through the door. "Miss me?"

Clary's heart seized. He was there and he looked happy, nothing was ascue on his face. Same olive skin, same broad shoulders and cocky grin. He was there and he was hugging Jace. Clary stared at him before muttering off an excuse to leave the room, "I've got to go check on the lasagna, be right back."

She gripped the edge of the sink in her trembling fingers. Clary could feel the burn in her throat and tears building in her eyes. Wordlessly Jace wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder. Clary's back against his front. Her breathing was shallow and he could feel how stiff she was. After a few seconds she relaxed and tugged his arms closer.

"Talk to me, pretty girl, are you okay?" He whispered in her ear.

Clary thought about it quite a while before answering him. "No, I'm not okay, because I hate that man. I hate him and he's in our living room and I don't- I can't-" She took a ragged breath and he felt her shake.

"Clary, you aren't making any sense. How do you know Jordan?"

"New York is huge." She continued like she hadn't heard him. "What are the chances that my cheating ex is your old roommate?" Jace froze.

* * *

 _To Be Continued..._

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Mortal Instruments or any of the characters used in this story.**

 **Do you think I should do a poll for the December story of the month? I don't know right now but I'll let you know. Are you guys enjoying this constant updating thing that's going on right now? Should I change the rating for this story from T to M? I think I have to.**

 **I would also like to make a PSA, this is the rom-com of my stories. Things here are sweet and funny and pretty fucking adorable, but also real on a lot of levels. I'm sorry to burst your bubble if you think every romantic gesture needs to be grand but it's not always like that. I'd like to think that this story is as realistic as I can get it in eleven chapters.**

 **Favorite and review!**

 **P.S. To Rose, you're welcome.**


	6. Winter Wonderland

**{Chapter 6}**

 _ **~Isabelle~**_

Afte Jace disappeared into the kitchen, Izzy eyed Jordan. He looked like he did before but there was an edge to him. A nervous energy she couldn't remember ever being around him before. She could tell that he had come through the door with his walls down, expecting to spend the night with his friends, but when he saw Clary his face fell. There was a history there and Isabelle wanted to know what it was.

Jordan stared at the pillow in Izzy's lap, his eyes following her finger as she traced the embroidered pattern. There was regret on his face and the smallest amount of guilt. Iz noticed the way Simon glared daggers at Jordan. The latter shied away.

"Get the hell out of my apartment, Jordan." Iz turned sharply at the deep voice. Jace stood in the kitchen doorway. Anger radiating from his body and his face full of something Izzy hadn't seen in years, hate.

"Jace," Alec gasped. Her brother was never the one who noticed emotion on people. Right now seemed to be one of the moments where he did not realizing he should keep quiet. Jace grit his teeth but continued to stare at Jordan.

"Look man, I don't know what she told you-" Jace growled and Iz felt genuinely afraid for a second. His eyes were burning, turning from their normally warm gold to a cruel and cold molten bronze. Isabelle clutched the pillow a little closer when Jace stepped forward.

A sniffle made him stop before he could touch Jordan. Clary was behind him, her eyes puffy and nose red. Jace didn't turn to look at her but when he spoke, Izzy knew he had seen Clary cry. "You don't get to talk about her. You don't get to look at her. You sure as hell don't fucking get to be in the same breathing space as her. Now get out."

Jordan grabbed his discarded jacket and headed for the door. He was halfway through when he turned to Clary. "I _am_ sorry."

"No, you aren't." She wiped angrily at her face and wrapped her arms around her middle in a protective gesture. Jordan looked ready to say something else but another growl from Jace sent him walking through the door.

 **~o.O.o~**

Jace was furious. His friend, his roommate for over two years was a cheater. He couldn't help but remember all the times he'd seen Maia and Jordan together, thinking Jordan was an idiot in love. Were all those times really days when Clary was alone because her boyfriend said he was too busy with work or school?

Jace's life had been connected to Clary's before he even knew who she was, how amazing she was and he was so angry. Now that beautiful girl was crying in the doorway of their kitchen while their friends stared, confused.

He watched her heartbreaking face and when she met his eyes, Jace felt his heart crack and shatter open and bleed. Clary couldn't look anyone else in the face and she couldn't move her legs to run away. She was stuck in her own personal hell. She was trying not to break down completely but all the pent up feelings she had been hiding for the last couple of months were surfacing. Vexed and damaged tears rolling down her cheeks.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Simon shift from his spot on the couch and stand on his feet. Before he could get to her Clary was in Jace's arms. She let out a strangled sob and Jace held her closer, burying her head underneath his chin, she could feel his comforting fingers running through her hair.

Jace couldn't breathe. Clary was breaking in his arms and all he could do was try and hold her together. He was aware of Izzy shoving their friends out of the room and he heard Alec mutter something about turning the oven off, but Jace couldn't comprehend anything other than the little redheaded girl he was desperately holding onto.

"I didn't want you to choose." She whispered into his chest.

Jace sighed and leaned down to kiss her forehead. Clary sniffled and burrowed further into his torso. "There wasn't a choice for me. He cheated and lied to you. I wouldn't have been able to look at him the same after I knew that."

She pushed away from him to look up at his curious face. "Jace Herondale, I do believe you have a heart of gold in there." She said, poking the skin over his quickened heart.

"And I believe you are incredibly cheesy." He grinned down at her as brightly as he could. Hoping to make her smile and lighten her mood.

"You would be right." Clary simpered weakly but to Jace it looked like the most illuminating and beautiful gesture. "I'm tired. Can we go to bed?"

His heart dropped because that meant he would need to let her go and Jace didn't think he could sleep knowing how upset she was and not being able to make her feel better. He looked at her and saw her red rimmed eyes and downturned eyebrows. He refused to let her be sad because of Jordan Kyle. "Come on. Let's go to bed."

A part of him wondered when he became the guy who couldn't imagine letting a girl go. He didn't know what he felt for Clary but he knew with certainty that she was special to him. Someone who he could see by his side for a long time.

Hand in hand, Jace locked the front door and turned the lights off, making sure the over really was off, then walked into his room. Clary gave him a funny look but didn't argue when he pulled her to sit on the bed. Kneeling down Jace dragged the waistband of her tights down her hips and legs, the fabric pooling at her bare feet. She rose her arms in the air as he pulled the white shirt over her head. He removed his own shirt and dropped it over her head. He liked her in his bed and in his clothes.

On any other night, Jace would be trying to sleep with her. Although he did want to sleep with her, Jace wouldn't take advantage of her in this state. When Jace finished undressing he turned to see her under the covers, she looked like she belonged there and Jace hugged her from behind. Kissing her neck Jace heard her begin to hum her song.

 **~o.O.o~**

No one talked about Jordan after that day. When Clary had woken up the next morning Jace wasn't asleep next to her like she expected. Later she would find out that he spent the morning telling the doorman not to let Jordan into the building and giving their friends the summarized version of her break up.

Weeks had gone by and Clary hadn't slept in her own bed since then. In the cold of mid-December Clary sat on their bed curled up in a blanket with her fuzzy sock covered feet hanging off the edge.

"You look comfy?" Jace was in the doorway with his backpack hanging off his arm. His nose was vermillion from the cold and Clary was thankful she was able to catch a cab and get home before the wind had picked up.

"Because I am, my classes ended today and tomorrow I get to go home for a week and see my parents. This is as happy as I'll be until after Christmas when I come back." Clary shut her book and slid it onto the nightstand next to their favorite picture.

"You'll miss me that much?" She rolled her eyes but continued to study the picture in the light frame. It was of Jace and Clary. They were asleep on the couch, Clary on his chest with an abandoned book limply laying on the table. Jace was snuggling her tightly and his face was relaxed. Isabelle had taken it to use as blackmail but Clary thought they looked adorable and Jace bought a frame the next day to keep the joke going. One day it had ended up on the nightstand and it hadn't moved since then.

"That or my mother is a little more on the crazy side." Clary said with a light laugh.

"I like my version better." Sitting on the corner of the bed, Jace pulled out a medium sized box and placed it in her lap. "Here."

"What's this?" She fingered the delicate bow and admired the creamy purple color of the wrapping paper. The package fit into both of her hands with some to spare and felt heavy.

"Your Christmas present, pretty girl." Clary couldn't help but flash her teeth in a ditzy smile. Jace could feel his chest puff with pride. He had been trying so hard to make her happy since the Jordan incident last month.

She hit his arm several times before exclaiming, "You said we weren't doing presents!"

"I lied. Open it." He wanted to see her face when she opened it since she wouldn't be back in the condo until the day after Christmas. Jace was dreading sleeping on his own again. He didn't enjoy the cold and empty sheets when they wrapped around him anymore.

"Hold on," Clary left the present on her blanket and jogged out of the room. Jace heard her run into her room and for a moment he was afraid that she was running away from him. Then she was back, a brilliant blush over her face and a yellow wrapped box in her hands. She held it out to him, bouncing excitedly. "Open yours too."

"How did you-" Clary scowled, like he could fool her into thinking he wasn't getting her anything. "Nevermind."

When they both held their presents, Jace watched her rip the wrapping paper from the plain box inside. She gave him a questioning look but Jace kept a straight face, not giving anything away. When Clary peeled away the final layer of tissue paper she gasped. Covering her face with her hands Clary tried not to start crying.

"You don't like it. Damn, I'm sorry." Jace rubbed the back of his neck. He'd messed up. He had spent hours trying to find her the perfect present and he had made Clary cry instead. "I remember you said you liked them and I thought it was something you would want. But if you don't like it- that's okay, I'll get you something else."

Clary listened to him panic before lifting her head and pulling him into a tight hug. "You're absolutely wonderful." The dozens of colored paint tubes tumbling out of their box and onto the covers as she sat snuggled on his lap.

"I know, but those aren't all I got you," Jace pulled out his phone and scrolled through to the email with the delivery scheduled.

"You got me a easel?" Her eyebrows rose almost into her hairline.

"Yeah, I thought since you never got your art supplies back from Jordan's apartment you should have them. To, you know, paint and stuff." He finished bashfully.

Clary planted a lingering kiss on his cheek and shoved his gift towards him.

They hadn't talked about what they felt for one another yet, but they both knew something was different. It had been changing since Alec's birthday party at Pandemonium. Jace hadn't gone out with another girl since before that night, now he couldn't imagine even flirting with anyone else. They kissed occasionally, light brushes of their lips, but Jace hadn't pushed her for anything else and he hadn't asked her out either. He didn't know how to have a girlfriend and he didn't want Clary to be wary of him because of Jordan. He wanted to wait until he was sure she was ready to be with someone she trusted before asking her. And Jace would ask.

"Let's see," The paper fell away quickly and he was staring at the box. He had a feeling he knew what was inside but Jace had told her so long ago, how could she possibly remember something so insignificant to her own life.

Inside the box was his childhood. There was a single glass bottle with a deep blue velvet ribbon tied around the neck as a burst of color that made Jace's eyes widen in nostalgia and the flare of sadness. The swirled script on the front read ' _Cecily Herondale_ '.

"I remember you told me about her," Clary watched his watering eyes. "I know how upset you were when the last of it was gone."

"Clary." He croaked with his throat rough. "How did you get this?"

"A lot of searching on the internet, a couple sketchy sellers and the help of the universe."

"It's perfect." Jace held her face between his hands and when he kissed her he knew his breathing stopped. "Thank you, pretty girl. I love it."

 **~o.O.o~**

"Why the hell did your parents move to Boston from the greatest city in the world?" Jace drove down the highway above the speed limit. They were almost to Clary's childhood home. The last three hours were a blur of music, passing cars, and Jace. His hand was gripping hers over the cupholder and he sang along to the radio occasionally.

Closing her thick book Clary tucked her legs underneath herself and sighed. "My parents have never lived in London, Jace."

"I meant New York. The city that we love, where we live and our friends live." Jace rolled his eyes and yanked on her hand jokingly.

"You said _greatest_ city, the greatest city is London." Clary pulled their intertwined hands into her lap and relaxed further into the seat, her eyes getting tired from the constant movement outside of her window.

Jace gaped at his ridiculous redhaired girl. "I'm revoking your New Yorker status."

"Maybe I'll just move to London then." She grinned at him as he turned into the right exit. She missed home sometimes, both of her parents travelled for work and Boston had been the only place she considered home before going to New York four years ago.

"You wouldn't."

Glaring humorously at him, Clary turned the music up after muttering, "I would."

When they pulled up to the victorian style three floored house forty minutes later, Clary noticed that the lights inside weren't on and groaned. "Oh no."

Jace studied the porch swing that swayed in the breeze. The brown color of the house looked welcoming and contrasted to the lively vines winding up the vestibule beams. "I told you coming this early in the morning was stupid."

"It's nine in the morning, they'll be up soon. I can just wait outside until my mom wakes up." Clary unbuckled her seatbelt and moved to open the door before she turned back to Jace. "Thank you for the ride again. Are you sure you don't want to stay for breakfast? I feel bad that you're going to be driving for another four hours all on my account."

"I don't want to crash your Fray family time. I'll grab something on my way out of town. When they stepped out of the car together Jace shivered. "Clary it's freezing out here. I'm not letting you stay outside your house and catch a horrible cold."

"I'm okay! I have a jacket and you need to head back down or you'll miss Iz and Alec." The Lightwood siblings were heading down to Long Island for a few days to be with their parents and younger brother. They had invited Jace but he didn't want to go. Honestly he didn't know what he would do until they all came back home. The only family he had that was worth his time was in Germany for the winter and Jace didn't want to bother her with his stupid anxiety of being too lonely on Christmas.

"I won't be able to focus on driving if I think my favorite girl is freezing to death." Jace guilted her with wide eyes and a downturned lip.

"Always one for the dramatics." Clary grabbed his car keys from his gloved hand and walked around to the driver's side of the car. She beckoned him with her hand. "Come on."

Jace jumped into the car with vigor, wanting to be warm and away from the lightly snowing sky. "Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to my creative place." Was all she said before backing out of the driveway and heading down a maze of streets until she stopped.

The deep blue of the ocean glistened from below them, specks of white marked the boats rowing through the cool water. When they left the car Jace could smell it, the fresh scent of salt in the air carried on the wind. Jace inhaled the intoxicating aroma.

"I used to come here in high school when it would all get too much," When Jace looked at her curiously she explained. "My parents would travel so much that when they were home together they barely knew each other, but they got better when dad retired."

Clary led him to the top of the little uphill, a wooden bench covered in initials sat underneath a bare oak tree. The wood of the bench was splintered and Jace was sure they would both end up with tore palms. "I can see it. Sixteen year old Clary Fray, sitting on the her bench on her hill overlooking the world. Wearing absolutely nothing and-"

A cold smack of snow hit his cheek. The snowball fell into his lap and Jace looked at her in shock. "How do you go from cute to disgusting in seconds?" Clary said, pushing another handful of snow into his face.

"I have an active imagination."

"A perverted one."

Jace ducked behind the tree as another ball hit the bark. One after another the ice flew between them, hitting limbs. Clary screamed as Jace shoved snow down the collar of her sweater. She ran after him and when he slowed to a stop Clary jumped onto his back, her arms wrapping around his neck. Jace held her thighs around his stomach.

"I'm not too heavy, am I?"

"No." He felt her breath on his neck and the soft puffs of air made his head spin and heart thump harshly against his ribcage. "Do you-"

"Do you want to stay for the day? I know my mom and dad would love to meet you." Jace gulped down his nerves.

In his twenty three years of life Jace Herondale had never met a girl's parents, especially not a girl he was interested in seeing as more than just a friend. Not to mention Clary was in a league of her on. What if Clary's parents didn't like him? What if they saw right through him and could see the damaged idiot he was underneath all his bravado?

"I- Yeah, I can." He said unsurely at first. When he felt the kiss on his numb cheek Jace was feeling more confident. "I would love to stay for the day."

Clary had finally told her parents the entire truth about Jordan and moving in with Jace the day after Jordan had shown up to their apartment. To say they were shocked was an understatement. Clary had spent hours on the phone listening to her mom lecture her on the danger of meeting strangers online, let alone moving in with them. When she packed her bag to come see her parents the scheming part of her brain was already thinking of ways to introduce Jace to her parents without it seeming creepy.

She just hoped they would like him as much as she did.

 **~o.O.o~**

"Mom I can't breath." Clary said between shallow breaths into Jocelyn Fray shoulder.

"If you would visit more often I wouldn't have to hold you so tight." Jocelyn pulled away and Clary waved at her dad happily before her mother shouted, "Have your breasts gotten bigger or are you shrinking?"

"Mom!" Clary was horrified but it wasn't the worst part. Jace's throaty laugh reached her mortified ears and Clary could see her parents curiously glancing at the tall man behind her.

"Oh, hello. You must be the roommate. Jace, was it?" Jocelyn gave her hand for him to shake and Clary watched her dad from the corner of her eye. Luke was a librarian with similar glasses to her own but her dad used to be in the military and still had broad and strong shoulders that could give Jace a run for his money.

"Yes, ma'am. I was just dropping Clary off." Jace grinned and shook Luke's hand as well. When he started to back out of the house Clary could see the nerves hidden under his false aura of nonchalant easiness.

Before he could get too far Clary grabbed his hand and dragged him away from the front door, locking it for good measure. "And he's staying for the day because he's tired from driving and I don't want him to crash on the way home."

"We have plenty to go around. You should stay." Luke said his eyes drifting down to Clary's hand, still tugging on Jace's. Jocelyn smiling towards them eagerly. Just by looking at the blonde boy's face her parents knew that he would stay anywhere their daughter told him to.

Nodding back Jace replied, "Thank you."

Clary grinned and forced him into the dining room with her. Jocelyn watched the young adults with mirth building behind her eyes and Luke could tell that today would be an interesting day for both the Fray's and Jace.

"This," Jocelyn grinned. "Will be the best breakfast we've had in years."

"What are you going to do to the poor boy?" Luke asked curiously.

"Wait and see." His wife sashayed her hips when she passed him and walked behind their daughter into the next room.

Luke whisper shouted worriedly after her, "Jocelyn!"

Breakfast had gone mostly uneventful. Neither of Clary's parents pried into Jace's life too much or asked overly personal questions. Something that Clary was thankful for but made her paranoid about what her mother had planned. Jocelyn Fray wasn't the type of woman to keep her thoughts to herself. Clary was afraid they might hate him with how quiet they'd become.

Clary honestly couldn't remember a time when she laughed as much. Jace was a light in their house, full of happiness and charm. They were finishing off their plates when Clary's phone rung loudly with a message, she chose to ignore it but then it went off again.

"Excuse me," Clary balanced herself on Jace's shoulder and she could feel how tense he was. His muscles tight and she gave him a reassuring squeeze. He couldn't be nervous, could he?

"I should be heading out, thank you for the breakfast." With a laugh Jace rose out of his chair. When Clary made a muffled squeal Jace was moving to her side without question. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Clary could hear the concern laced with his urgency, she could see her parents questioning faced behind him but his kneading hands distracted her. His fingers gentle yet persistent against her shoulders. Jace took notice of her eyes, looking for tears, when he didn't find any his face relaxed marginally. Still worried.

"Nothing! You should get going. Back to New York and Iz and Alec." For a second Jace's heart sank. Did she want to get rid of him? Had he done something wrong? Clary could see his face falling. "I'm not getting rid of you, pretty boy. I just think you should go and- I don't know- spend some time with Iz and Alec."

"I guess you're right, I should be heading home." He said still unsure whether or not everything was really okay with his girl.

"Let's walk you out." Clary looked at her mother suspiciously as Jocelyn swept out of her own chair and made to follow them to the door. Clary didn't mind though, she was too excited from the text she had read, and reread, and then read one more time.

When she led Jace out to his car, her parents waving from the porch, she saw the uneasiness on his face. Clary couldn't tell him why she was sending him away because she had promised not to, but she couldn't keep secrets from him. Making him leave was the only option- he would find out on his own and she wouldn't feel like she was keeping anything from him. Then again Clary didn't want Jace to drive all the way back to New York thinking he had done something wrong.

Without thinking about it Clary lifted herself onto the tips of her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck. Jace's arms reflexively went around her waist to pull her closer as she kissed his lips lightly. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you, too, pretty girl." Clary giggled when he pressed a kiss on her nose.

She waved as he backed out of the driveway and Jace couldn't help but imagine a future of Clary waiting in a beautiful house for him to come home. It was a little old fashioned and cheesy but Jace couldn't help but think about being with Clary. It made him want to be cheesy.

When Jace was gone Clary walked back to her parents. Her father draped his arm over her shoulders and directed her inside the house behind her mother.

"I remember someone saying the words 'Jace is only a friend, I don't think of him like that at all'." Jocelyn mimicked a high pitched voice.

"I don't sound like that." Clary defended but didn't deny it because she had said that. And at the time she thought it was true, now she couldn't imagine saying those words in association to her gorgeous Jace.

"What made you heard that boy out of here like we've got the plague?" Her mother handed her a cup of steaming coffee and they sat together on the couch.

Clary leaned over the coffee table and whispered like Jace could pop up any minute. "Our best friends are getting married and they made me promise not to tell him because Alec wants to tell him in person and ask him to be his bestman."

Jocelyn clapped her hands, "That's wonderful! Who's the lucky girl?"

"Boy, actually." It seemed that in her excitement over Jace she had forgotten to tell her parents that she found Magnus again. "It's Magnus."

"Magnus! We haven't seen him in years. What does he do now?" Luke asked, interested in his daughters high school best friend.

"He has his own wedding planning business in Manhattan," Clary laughed at the that. Last time she had seen him he was going to a wedding, now he owned a boutique all about weddings and today he announced his engagement. Clary wondered if fate really was that specific when it came to true love.

"Isn't that fitting?"

"You should see them, mom. Alec and Magnus make each other so happy and they're so in love with each other, like they make each other's world stop." Clary said wistfully.

"Takes one to know one." Jocelyn sipped from her cup. She couldn't help but think back to how her daughter was with Jace. They were blissful to watch, reminding Jocelyn of what she and Luke had been like when they were younger.

Clary sank into the couch with a sigh of confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Oh nothing darling."

* * *

 _To Be Continued..._

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Mortal Instruments, and thank god for that, right? I would never be able to finish writing the series.**

 **Oh no, mystery. Who's Cecily Herondale? Mother, sister, daughter, wife, magical drag queen Jace?**

 **Are you guys having fun? Do you like this?** **I am** **self consc** **iou** **s** **. Tell me what you think.**

 **Favorite Review!**

 **Love~**


	7. Wedding Bells

**{Chapter 7}**

 **~ _Three Weeks Before The Wedding_ ~**

Jace was nervous.

The last month of planning had been a living nightmare. As it turned out, the reason Magnus was so good at dealing with emotional and unstable brides is because he was worse than all of them put together. He was terrifying. If Jace wasn't helping Clary and Iz plan the wedding he would think that the ceremony was the next day. Although that was all stressful as hell, it wasn't why Jace was pacing up and down the hall of his penthouse.

He could hear the soft humming coming through his bedroom door and when he pushed open the door his breath was knocked out of him. Clary sat on their bed with her legs crossed, surrounded by magazines and binders showing different fabrics in varying shades of white, flavours of cakes and flower arrangements. Her teeth were nipping on the edge of a ballpoint pen as she looked through the seemingly endless pages.

"Hey, you." Clary grinned around the pen when she saw him standing in the doorway.

"Hey, pretty girl." Jace gulped and stepped into the room. Clary blinked up at him through doe eyes and went back to flipping through the pictures, completely relaxed in the bed they shared. "Clary, do you have feelings for me?"

She froze and the pen dropped from her mouth. Jace waited but when she kept quiet he started becoming even more freaked out. Could it be possible for him to have made up everything he thought was going on between them the last couple of months? His face turned crimson when she broke out into a fit of giggles.

Clary couldn't breathe, he was a complete idiot. "Of course I have feelings for you."

"Romantically?" He said, trying to keep his heart from burst out of his chest.

"How can someone so perceptive be so stupid? Yes, romantically!" Clary maneuvered out of the maze of Magnus wedding portfolios. Magnus had given her his favorites and asked her to narrow it down. She was supposed to be going over them with Jace but he had been gone all day. "Do you have feelings for me?"

"For someone so perceptive-" Jace mocked before his words became muffled by Clary's mouth. Her tongue slipped into his momentarily slack mouth before he responded in earnest.

He kissed her like she was air, like Clary Fray was the only oxygen in the room and he was suffocating. Her legs were around his waist and he held her closer still. When she finally pulled away from him she could feel the warmth from his hands on her thighs and the beating of his heart. There was a hardness against her stomach and she knew how painful it could be for men to go on without taking care of that. Clary thought back to all the times they had kissed and were lounging around the apartment half naked.

He had never pushed her for anymore. "Go out with me?"

"Are you kidding me?" Clary blanched. "I've been trying to ask you out for months and you just take it away from me. What the hell, pretty girl?"

Clary grinned against his lips and closed the distance.

Everything about him made her heart beat faster. The feeling of his hair brushing through her fingers, his fingertips digging into the soft flesh of her bare thighs, the arousing groans coming out of him as her tongue moved against his. Her socked feet locked above his ass, pushing herself against him, unconsciously grinding against his hardened arousal.

"If you keep doing that my plan to keep this sweet and PG is going to go out the window." Jace growled into her mouth. Clary couldn't think of a reason why they should keep it PG, she nibbled his jaw.

Clary hummed against his throat. Sucking on his skin Clary moaned, he tasted like salt and fresh scent of mango filled her nose. "Clary." He warned. A gluttonous groan slipping between his lips.

"Jace," Her voice came out husky and wanting. Jace couldn't think anymore. All he wanted was Clary. Kissing him, holding his hand, being with him. Jace was moving before he could stop himself, his knees hitting the mattress of the bed. "Wait, no!"

Shocked and scared that he'd done something wrong, Jace stopped moving. Clary was gripping him tightly and he figured maybe she just wasn't comfortable going the whole distance just yet, for fuckssake he hasn't even answered her yet.

"Sorry," Jace ducked his head into the junction where her neck met shoulder.

"I want to, I just don't want Magnus to murder us because we destroyed his wedding files by having sex on them." Jace couldn't help but chuckle and hug her around the waist, her legs still clinging to him. She was like a monkey trying to climb him.

"For the record, I wanted to go out with you before you threw yourself at me," Jace said jokingly. A face splitting grin lighting his angular features.

Rolling her eyes Clary brushed strands of hair away from his forehead. "Is that a yes?"

"Absolutely and since you took that away from me, will you go to Magnus and Alec's wedding as my date?" He loved her ecstatic grin.

"Sorry, I can't. I have a boyfriend now and I don't think he wants me seeing other people." She slid down his body in excruciating slowness, wanting to feel him a bit longer, and when her feet were finally planted safely on the ground, she kissed his cheek. His heart soared and, if he wasn't scared of Magnus clawing his eyes out, he would have dammed the binders and had his girlfriend right then and there.

"Only you, pretty girl." Jace pushed aside the mess on the corner of their bed and watched his girl mark ' _yes_ ' and ' _no_ ' on an organized sheet. Jace leaned on his elbows and began sorting the piles she'd gone through.

"Thank you for helping," Ironically his phone interrupted her.

His phone continued to ring, looking at it he could see Alec's name flashing. "Sorry baby." He kissed the top of her head and answered the call.

 **~o.O.o~**

 _ **~Two Weeks Before The Wedding~**_

Clary was cuddled up in Jace's arms on their couch. The television was on but it was only background noise. They kissed slowly, exploring one another's mouths with their tongues. Clary giggled when the knocking at the door got louder and more persistent.

"Every fucking time." Jace growled as he opened the door to see Izzy standing on the doorstep with different shades of white fabric piled high in her arms. "Isabelle Lightwood, I would really like to hang out with my girlfriend without you."

"Jace, no one is more happy that you two finally got your heads out of your asses and finally got together but if this wedding isn't perfect Magnus will murder both of you so you guys can snuggle and make out when this is over." Jace wanted to argue but he knew that she was right. Even though it annoyed the living hell out of him.

They had finally made it official and every time they got close someone showed up to ruin it. The first time it was Magnus' binders, then Magnus himself, then Alec, now Izzy. Jace was starting to think that kidnapping his girlfriend and taking her to a deserted island was the best idea he had had since emailing Fray back.

He could hear Izzy talking animatedly, waving two identical looking fabrics in the air. He closed the door and sat back on the couch next to Clary. His arms crossed and sinking into the soft leather of the couch.

"Don't pout, baby." Clary kissed his cheek and turned back to Isabelle. "Maybe we should go with the creamier seashell. It would match with the blue." Izzy inspected the tester Clary was holding and nodded, pushing the rest of the whites off the table.

Jace stroked Clary's arm comfortingly as the two girls went over the last binder with their final choices. Several things were finalized: the colors, blue and seashell. Venue, bed breakfast in Long Island. Guest list. Wedding party.

Clary rubbed circles into her temples to ease the headache creeping in. Jace hated seeing her in pain but she always promised him that it was worth it to give their best friends the wedding they deserved. Especially when he held her closely at night, Clary would be in the safety of his arms and he could rest easily.

"If my brother doesn't appreciate the shit out of me after this, I'm never getting him a Christmas present again." Isabelle laid her head down on the arm of the recliner.

"If anything goes wrong during this wedding, I will have an aneurysm." Clary was close to tears as the stared at a blank point on the wall. Jace wanted to help, he really did, but Alec wasn't as high maintenance when it came to the wedding.

She had driven to Long Island twice to make sure the venue was completely set. Clary had sent out every invitation and filtered through them to make the seating arrangement. The fucking binders full of cakes and suits were becoming the last straw in her mental house of cards. After watching Clary exhaust herself for weeks on end for this wedding, Jace was certain that if the grooms didn't absolutely love it, he would kill them.

 **~o.O.o~**

 **~ _One Week Until The Wedding_ ~**

Magnus had finally lost his mind after the fourteenth wedding cake he tasted. Jace and Alec were on one end of the table, Izzy and Clary on the other. Magnus sat in the middle of the group with pure desperation on his face. Alec's hand was clasped on top of his fiance's, fingers warm and soothing.

"We're never going to find the perfect cake for our wedding," Magnus slammed his forehead against the edge of the table repeatedly.

"The orange and vanilla was pretty good." Alec said hopefully.

" _Pretty good_? It needs to be perfect! This isn't just any other wedding, it's our wedding, it can't be _pretty good_. It's the most important day that will be the start of our future together, our forever. It can't be _pretty good_." Magnus explained, his voice shaking with emotion, gripping Alec's hand tightly between both of his.

"Mags. It will be perfect _because_ it's you and Alec." Clary reached out to her best friend. "You love each other so much, anyone can see it. Right now it all seems so important- the cake, the exact white of your tux, but when you're up there. With Alec." Clary watched the two grooms for a moment before her eyes shifted to Jace. "None of it will matter because you'll be standing up there with the man you love starting your life together."

Magnus kissed Alec on the lips soundly, "You're right, the orange vanilla was delicious."

Isabelle cheered, "Yes! I gained twenty pounds in the last two hours and I need to fit into my dress in a week."

"One week." Magnus grinned, finally being able to breathe. "I love you."

"I love you too."

 **~o.O.o~**

 **~ _Judgement Day_ ~**

Today was Magnus and Alec's wedding day and Clary was already getting a headache from the amount of disasters happening around her all weekend. One after the other. Even worse, she had to keep it all underwraps from Magnus because he was one wrong shade of flowergirl pink away from getting an ulcer. The most upsetting thing from planning the wedding was the bare minimal time Clary got to spend with her boyfriend.

She missed hanging out with Jace, especially now that they were dating it was getting harder to be interrupted every time they became intimate. She just wanted to spend some quality time with her boyfriend- clothing optional style. With all of the details for Magnus and Alec's wedding Clary just hadn't had the time to, hopefully after the wedding she could have quality Jace time. In excess.

First, the bed breakfast place hadn't readied enough rooms for all the guests that had shown up Friday afternoon so Clary had to hustle a dozen maids to clean until their fingers bled, herself included. Thankfully she had managed to distract the guests without rooms with the bar and Magnus was none the wiser.

Second, when the grooms tuxedos and bestmen suits were delivered they made the critical mistake of steaming and ironing out everything except Magnus' pants. An adventure of drycleaners had taken up the majority of her morning before the next crisis struck. The flower arrangements were at an uneven ratio of pink peonies to cherry blossoms. An unusual combination but Clary thought it fit perfectly with the couple. She had been on the phone for hours, sounding like the most OCD paranoid person as she prattled on about the need for at least another two stems of peonies to each table bouquet.

After that Saturday was smooth sailing. Jace was worried about her since Magnus asked her to be his bestman. Clary barely had anytime to spare for her boyfriend or herself in the weeks that followed her acceptance and Jace was scared she was damaging her health.

Clary and Jace were woken up in the early hours of Sunday morning, a nervous delivery boy shaking on their room door. As it turned out the food had arrived but Clary needed to sign for it and direct the kitchen staff, Clary didn't complain as she got dressed and kissed Jace goodbye. She was becoming used to all the madness.

Finally having sorted all the French cuisine, Clary was dragging her feet up the stairs and into the dressing room. She wanted Magnus and Alec to have the perfect day, hell, she had shaved years off her life stressing and perfecting it, but Clary was tired and she missed her boyfriend. Jace helped where he could but Clary had made so many of the arrangements for the wedding that it would take longer to tell him what to do than to just do it herself.

When she slipped into the deep blue dress, that matched Alec's eyes according to Magnus, Clary felt the weight begin to lift off of her shoulders. Soon the wedding would be over and her friends would leave for a two week long honeymoon. Although she loved them both dearly she really didn't want to see either of them for those two weeks. Rightly so.

Isabelle did her hair and makeup. Coils of bright red hair cascading down her back in elegant waves and silver eyeshadow that apparently made her eyes pop. The groom's sister wasn't happy covering up the purple bags under Clary's eyes but she didn't say a word. Both knowing the tiredness was from her extensive wedding responsibilities.

"Thank you, Iz. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I had to apply all this stuff to my face." Clary cringed away from the vanity just thinking about the horrible clown face she would have worn if her makeup was in her own hands.

"Don't mention it. I like doing your makeup." Izzy shrugged as she put the final touched to her cheeks and lips. When she was happy with it Iz helped Clary stand from the chair. "I think it's time for the ceremony to start."

"It'll be beautiful."

"All your hard work will finally pay off, weeks of putting yourself second." Izzy linked her arm with Clary's as they walked towards the wedding chapel. "I wish you would have unloaded more on Jace and myself."

"I guess I just work better on my own." Clary said sheepishly.

"Well, you aren't on your own anymore." Isabelle bumped her hip against Clary's.

They approached the grand double doors and Clary could see the bodies filing in, colorful dresses and suits marking colorful streaks against the white walls. Clary could hear the soft music planning from inside, but something was wrong. The band was playing too slowly. She checked the time on her wristwatch and breathed a sigh of relief, she had time to fix it before Magnus was set to walk down the aisle.

"I'll handle it." Isabelle said before Clary could. "Yes, I'm sure. You're Magnus's bestman but Alec is my brother. I can handle a little music tempo fix."

"Thank you!" Clary called out watching Iz disappear into the sea of people.

She hoped that Izzy wasn't upset with her for taking so much of the wedding planning. Clary didn't want all the work, she certainly didn't mean to take over completely, it just worked out that way. Magnus would get an idea and he would call Clary- no matter what time it was. She would write it down and then go through with putting it into action as quickly as she could. As it turned out, doing it like that meant Jace and Isabelle were often left out.

Clary felt the muscles in his arms around her waist before she heard him whisper in her ear. "Hello there, pretty girl. Are you ready to see our best friends tie the knot?"

"As ready as ever," All the guests were inside the chapel and Clary knew it was time for Jace to take their place at the alter. She could see the line of flowergirls, ring bearer, and the empty place for her. "Go in, I'll be there in a few minutes."

Jace kissed her cheek as he passed by. Almost every ivory seat was taken by family and friends. A few random chairs were empty due to circumstance or personality, Jace saw the empty chair next Magnus' mother and his heart squeezed.

Both of Magnus' parents knew Magnus was bisexual, but his father hoped that meant he would still marry a woman one day, not a man. It made Jace angry watching that bare chair. What kind of a parent willingly missed their child's wedding?

"You saw it too, right?" Alec whispered to his bestman. "He's not here. I know Magnus pretends like he doesn't care if he's here or not, but I know it bothers him. It hurts him."

Jace clasped his shoulder in support. "I know but at the end of the day that man doesn't matter, you and Magnus do. Look how many people are here- every single one of them means more than Asmo Bane, he doesn't even make the top two hundred."

Alec nodded solemnly before he blanched, "There's two hundred people here?"

"Take a breath, man." Jace stood calmly on the step below the groom. "And let it out."

Alec never really liked attention all that much, he had almost had a panic attack during their high school graduation walk. It had been in alphabetical order so Jace was up ahead in the line and Alec was between Kilorn and Morgenstern. The only reason Alec hadn't panicked was because Jace pretended to faint and drew all the attention away from him.

Although that option didn't seem like a good idea at their wedding. Since Magnus could actually kill him for ruining it. Hell, Alec might kill him for upsetting his husband-to-be.

The music changed to a classic version of ' _here comes the bride_ ', the band playing softly as the wide doors opened. Magnus' bestman stood in the center of the aisle with a wide grin breaking her blushing face.

Clary Fray held a bouquet of cherry blossoms and peonies firmly in her hands, the pink offsetting her dress. Her lightning blue dress hugging her curves and chest pleasingly. Jace had seen it in the hallway but watching her walk down the aisle, towards him, Jace felt absolute joy. It was as though he could see a glimpse of his future. One that he desperately wanted now.

 _I'm going to marry this girl._

When she reached the steps he held out his hand to help her climb them. He knew she hated high heels and the ones strapped onto her feet were obviously Izzy's choice. Her warm hands fit into his like a piece of a puzzle. Clary took her place parallel to him on the stairs.

Magnus' nieces walked next to each other, glittering silver dresses with thick bows around their waists shining in the light. Their little hands dropped handfuls of red petals on the strip of white leading to the alter. When they reached the front Jace waved them away with a grin. The girls scurried away to their mother with childlike giggles following behind them. He could feel the tension leaving Alec's body.

Even at eleven Jace knew Max would be a heartbreaker. The little comic book monster walked down with a ceremonial pillow in his hands. His shoulders straight, hair gelled back and a knowing smirk on his soft face the entire way down. Jace tugged the boy towards him and tried to resist the urge to mess with his hair, knowing full well that Maryse would kill him.

Seems all Lightwoods were violent. Magnus Lightwood-Bane would fit in perfectly.

Magnus's suit was seashell white. A color that Jace had come to resent for taking away his girlfriend, but even he had to admit that it was the perfect shade. The wedding planner had spiked his hair up and away from his radiant face. For once in his life there wasn't an extreme overload of jewelry adorning his fingers and neck, because he would be getting the most important ring today.

Jace watched Magnus take the steps to his future in earnest. His catlike eyes never leaving Alec's. Jace followed Magnus' movements until he stopped in front of the pastor. Neither Magnus nor Alec were religious but Maryse wanted them to get married in a church, though Jace didn't think either of them really cared where they got married as long as it was to each other.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the holy matrimony of Magnus Brooks Bane and Alexander Gideon Lightwood." Jace stared at the joy and contentment on his best friends face. He didn't think he had ever seen Alec look more at peace.

"Magnus, I have loved you since before I knew what loving someone really meant." Alec reached out to grab his fiance's hand. "I thought I knew what true and complete love was but the day I realized I love you, that changed. You're eccentric, you burned down a Wendy's booth on our third date and I'm pretty sure you shed glitter but you're the love of my life and even your arson won't scare me away."

Magnus chuckled. Jace's golden eyes flickered away from the couple and glanced at his girlfriend. Clary's face was cracked in a large smile but her eyes were tearing up. She looked beautiful, as if she sensed him, her eyes locked onto his.

"You are a bright light in my world, when I get home from work I just want to talk to you. It could have been the worst day in my life but when you're there I can breathe again. You aren't just the love of my life. You're my best friend, my lifeline. You make everything okay." Alec reached out and gently wiped away a tear rolling down Magnus' cheek. "When I met you, my life was a mess. I had promised myself not to get involved with anyone until I figured out at least a little bit of what was going on with me, but then you fell into my pool. I couldn't keep that promise but I can keep this one- I promise to love you until my last breath."

Jace couldn't look away from Clary, her hair pushed back over her shoulders and the wonderful deep green of her eyes. She sniffled but her smile never dropped from her face. Jace wanted her to be up there with him. He wondered how rude it would be considered if he asked her to marry him during Magnus and Alec's first married dinner.

"Alexander Lightwood," The notary spoke loudly in the all too quiet church. "Do you take this man to be your husband, to live together, to love him, to honor him, to comfort him, and to keep him in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do." Alec grinned and Jace knew that he didn't notice the dozens of people staring. Alec slipped the golden band on Magnus' finger with a shaking hand.

"Magnus Bane, do you take this man to be your husband, to live together, to love him, to honor him, to comfort him, and to keep him in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?"

Magnus was nodding before the man had even finished. "I do." Magnus placed the matching ring on Alec's finger.

"Repeat after me." The notary turned to Alec. "I, Alexander Lightwood, take you Magnus Bane, to be my husband and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part."

Alec repeated the words quickly, followed by Magnus. Jace could tell how how excited they were to be married in a few short sentences.

"By virtue of the authority vested in me under the laws of the State of New York, I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may now kiss."

Magnus grabbed his new husband by the collar and smashed their lips together, the crowd cheering as they parted, twin grins splitting their faces. Clary clapped her hands around the bouquet and hollard, Jace cupping his hands over his mouth as a megaphone. The newly married couple laughed as their lips closed over one another again.

The couple walked hand in hand towards the exit, followed by Jace and Clary. Each row of their guests stood on their feet as they passed by. When they passed through the double doors Clary could see the happiness on her friends faces.

 **~o.O.o~**

The dining hall was decorated with streamers of peach and cream. It was lively and bright. A crystal vase sat aesthetically in the middle of each lace tablecloth, ten people filling the spaces around the table. Clary could hear bits and pieces of the conversations at each table as she walked towards the front.

The main table was long and thin, Alec and Magnus sitting in the middle with sweet expressions of love on their faces. Jace sat on Alec's left, Isabelle and Simon down the table. Clary sat between Magnus and Ragnor. Magnus' sister, Catarina with her husband and daughters beside Ragnor. Clary heard Jace ring his wine glass with the tip of his knife.

Jace stood tall beside the married couple. His fitted suit made him look handsome, ribbons of peach on the seam of his jacket. Clary watched the nervous blush appear on his cheeks as the crown in front of them turned their attention to him.

"When Alec asked me to be his best man I had a lot of things on my mind. The bachelor party and how to steal my girlfriend back from Magnus. I started planning for this speech, knowing that the internet is an amazing and slightly scary place, I Googled "heartfelt best man speech". Like a good best friend of over a decade would do. I found a website with thousands of different speech examples that I could pay to see. But I'm cheap, so I'm winging it." The guests laughed and Alec rose his champagne flute in defeat towards his best friend.

Jace gripped the microphone in his hand and continued, "Alec was a very awkward child. From birth to now, honestly he hasn't grown out of that. Despite that, Alec has always been there to bail me out of whatever mess I managed to get myself into. I was fourteen when my parents died, Alec brought me home with him like a stray. Maryse took one look at me and the next thing I knew I was moving into their house. I don't know who I would be without Alec, his kindness and his willingness to help others makes him more than just a good man, it makes him a great one. It has been my honor and my privilege to know Alec Lightwood, to the best man I know."

Glasses filled the air and Alec hugged him tightly. Jace was a head taller than Alec but in that moment he felt small and vulnerable. Like that teenager from so long ago, being held together solely by the strength of his best friend. When Alec finally let him go there were tears shining in their eyes.

Magnus cleared his throat, "Okay, no more touching speeches or I'll cry. Let's dance!" He held out his hand towards his husband and intertwined their fingers.

"Introducing for the first time, Mr Lightwood and Mr Lightwood-Bane." A faceless voice announced from the speakers as Alec and Magnus stepped into the middle of the dance floor.

Magnus led Alec in a slow waltz. Their feet moving in rhythmic circles to the music falling around them. Jace could see how lost they were becoming in each other, losing track of the countless people watching them.

"Excuse me," Jace tapped Clary's shoulder, holding out his hand he bent in a light bow. "May I have this dance, m'lady?"

"Only if you stop talking like that." Jace grinned as she pulled him next to Magnus and Alec's swaying bodies. His hands rested on her hips, Clary reached up and wound her arms around his neck. She hummed along to the tune of the music and Jace smiled at the familiarity of her sweet and husky voice.

"Clary Fray, I am going to marry you someday." The redhead became paralyzed in his arms and Jace's eyes widened at the realization of what he had just said.

Jace was losing his goddamned mind. He had just officially asked her out and they hadn't even gone out on the actual date yet, other than the wedding. It had only been a month of calling her his girlfriend. Jace knew he had had feelings for Clary for a lot longer than the last month but _this_ wasn't normal. _Normal_ people didn't just blurt out marriage proposals in the middle of someone else's dance. What is wrong with him?

Her eyes softened and Jace gnawed his bottom lip in worry of what she would say. They were standing stock-still while other couples moved around them, glancing in their direction curiously. Clary leaned up to his ear, "Is that a promise?"

What Jace said next was filled with complete certainty. "Yes."

* * *

 _To Be Continued..._

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own The Mortal Instruments. However, if my life plan works out and I build a time machine- I might one day.**

 **Did you guys like the Malec wedding? There might be another, less family friendly, Clace moment coming up soon so M rating, 18, all that.**

 **Favorite and review!**

 **- Rant ahead -**

 **Did you guys know that the entire Mortal Instruments franchise is based off of a Harry Potter fanfiction that Cassie wrote in the 2000's? It was called 'The Draco Trilogy' and it was taken down because of the amount of plagiarism from a lot of other works. (I'm pretty sure you can even find it on Goodreads). I read this article that compared the characters of Harry Potter and TMI together and the plots from her fanfiction and the TMI books, and basically Jace is Draco, Ginny is Clary, Harry is Alec, and Izzy is a version of Blaise. I want to cry.**


	8. Sleep Tight

**{Chapter 8}**

 **~o.O.o~**

 **~ _Clary_ ~**

Jace was still at practice when Clary got home from the store. She dropped the bags on the kitchen counter and brought out the bucket of cleaning supplies. Friday was her usual cleaning day since Jace had late practice and she needed something to entertain herself with, although it was more of a coping mechanism now.

Jace hadn't mentioned anything about marriage since the Lightwood wedding dance. Alec and Magnus were still away on their honeymoon in Bora Bora for the last week. After their wedding had ended they had taken two packed suitcases and disappeared into the land of no phones allowed and sensual massages.

When Clary went into her old room it felt foreign. The bed hadn't been slept in for months, the clothes in the closet were almost gone- having moved to Jace's. The only things used recently were her Christmas present art supplies. She ran her fingers over the cold duvet and grinned when she thought about why it was unused. Clary hadn't left Jace's bed for months and she never wanted to, it seemed crazy and so soon in their relationship but Clary wanted to marry him. As she stared at the emptied room Clary knew, she was so in love with Jace Herondale.

She noticed the drawer in her old nightstand, it was cracked open. Which was odd in itself because in the short weeks Clary lived in the room, the drawer was locked. She inched towards it, her fingers itching to look inside. Pulling it open she saw a small, ribbon wrapped box and a leather bound book.

Gnawing at her bottom lip Clary wondered if Jace would be mad at her for poking around his personal things, clearly the drawer had been locked for a reason. He didn't want people to see whatever was inside it. She argued with herself for a few minutes, fingering the spine of the book in her lap. She had a natural curiosity, dammit.

Flipping the cover open before she could talk herself out of it, Clary was surprised to see the scratched writing. She didn't read it at first, simply turned the pages. Each one was the same, loopy cursive writing underneath a sleek picture. Starting from the very front of the album Clary ran her finger across the elegant script.

 _Jace's first birthday!_

The picture made Clary grin. A little boy with messy blonde curls sat in a high chair, his chubby cheeks and stubby fingers covered in chocolate cake and icing. The small child wore a ruined animal onesie and his bright golden eyes stared at the crumbles of cake on the surface in front of him with laughter.

 _Jace's first bath!_

A bathtub of soapy bubbles was the center of attention. The little boy had his arms flung into the air, splashing water on the walls. A rubber duck floating on the restless water.

 _Jace's first time in Central Park!_

A red checkered blanket covered in banana pudding was underneath the blonde toddler. Jace was inspecting a handful of grass with keen interest. A woven picnic basket sat next to him abandoned. The blonde woman next to him was beautiful, she had a large yellow stain on her sweater, her hair was in a loose ponytail and her face was broken into a wide grin as she tried to keep the dirty grass in his hand away from Jace's mouth.

Clary deduced that the woman in the picture must be his mother, Céline Montclaire. Jace had mentioned her once to Clary, a long time ago. Jace looked just like Céline. He shared his mother's naturally tanned skin and heartbreaking smile. Clary knew Jace didn't like to talk about his family. Only mentioning offhandedly that Alec and the Lightwoods were his only family.

Feeling like she had pried enough, Clary slammed the album shut and put it back in it's place in the drawer. The little box next to it mocked and taunted her. She glanced towards the door and hoped her legs would carry her away from the temptation. Her hand grazed the velvet covered top before she snapped it back.

Whatever was in this drawer was Jace's, things that he didn't want to talk about or wasn't ready to talk about. The three pages she had looked at were his memories. She didn't have a right to invite herself into them. Shame and guilt at her actions ran down her spine and settled in the pit of her stomach.

The drawers lock clicked when she closed it and Clary walked out of her old room, shutting the door tightly behind her.

Clary changed out of her jeans and slipped on the pajamas Izzy had given her for Christmas. It was the first time she had worn them and she enjoyed the feeling of cool silk against her warm skin. She laid in bed with a book, mindlessly going through the motions of reading one paragraph after the other. Finally she gave into the urge and looked at the clock on the wall in their bedroom, it was a little after nine and Jace still wasn't home. She dialed his number but it went straight to voicemail.

There were no texts or missed calls from him and she knew his practice ended at seven. She tried to think if Jace had told her about anything he had going on after but came up blank. A dull throbbing was building in the back of her head and she rubbed the general area. Setting aside the book and her phone, Clary lay in bed. She wasn't used to going to sleep this early or alone. She had gotten used to the heated arms wrapped around her while she fell asleep and without it Clary didn't know how to get to sleep.

Twisting and turning in the sheets Clary wondered if Jace was okay. It wasn't like him to just drop from her radar without saying anything first. Typing a quick message to her boyfriend Clary dropped her head back on the pillow. Her eyes zoomed on the picture of them on her nightstand. Clary imagined she was on the couch now, drifting away with Jace next to her.

Her muscles relaxed and the phantom warmth of his body lulled her to sleep.

 **~o.O.o~**

When Clary opened her eyes next the room was still engulfed in darkness. She reached out blindly towards the other side of the bed but her hand found nothing but cold and empty sheets. She lifted herself away from the bed and looked around the room. Jace wasn't there. Her throat felt dry and her head still ached. Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, Clary hopped down and made her way to the kitchen. The apartment was quiet as she walked barefoot down the hallway to get a glass of water.

Suddenly she noticed the streaks of multicolored light reflecting off the pale walls. Surprised Clary crept into the living room. A dark figure was hunched over on her couch, unthinking Clary screamed.

The man jumped up and Clary flipped the lightswitch on. Her boyfriend was looking at her with amusement dancing on his face, a forgotten Xbox controller sat on the coffee table and the blinking screen from the television made her flush.

"Clary, why are you screaming?" Jace turned off the videogame and turned back to her.

"I woke up and you weren't there." She said instead of answering his question.

"I went to pick up Alec and Magnus from the airport." At her confused face Jace added, "Remember? I told you about it last night." He had told her, she remembered that now. No wonder he wasn't home until midnight.

"Sorry, I forgot." Jace smiled kindly before his eyes fell downwards.

"What are you wearing?" He said, his voice raw and deep.

"Oh," Clary glanced down at the short nightgown covering her body. A thin, baby blue silk material with an intricate lace hemline. It was a frilly little piece of fabric but it was comfortable. "It was Izzy's Christmas present. Are you coming to bed?"

Jace didn't answer. Stepping towards her with his eyes dark and hungry. Clary wasn't used to seeing that look in his eyes but a welcoming heat spread throughout her body. A tingling sensation passed over her as his fingers gently ran up her arm, her breath catching in her throat. Her hands itched to touch him.

They had kissed dozens of times but when Jace lowered his mouth to hers roughly, it felt like the first time. Jace's hands weren't touching her but she could feel how much he wanted to. He nipped her bottom lip and when she opened up to him, his tongue slipped inside, gliding over hers eagerly. A moan rumbled from his chest and Clary felt her self control snap. Digging her fingers into his hair, her nails scratching and pulling him forward. His back slammed into the hallway wall loudly, the frames shaking from the impact. Jace's arms wrapped around her waist tightly, holding her to him as she devoured him.

Quickly, desperately, her fingers ripped the buttons down his chest and tugged the fabric down. He tasted like mint toothpaste and coffee. Whimpering when she pulled away Clary stared into his dazed eyes. His lips were becoming swollen and he was breathing hard.

His Adam's apple shook when he spoke, his fingers rubbing circles on the covered skin of her hips, "Clary, I-"

She didn't let him finish, whatever he wanted to tell her could wait. She had waited too long for this. She didn't have to think about it anymore- she wanted Jace right now. Kissing her, touching her, inside her.

Using his shoulders for balanced Clary clung to him, her tongue running down his neck. Jace's hand pulled her leg around his waist, aligning their hips so Clary could feel how much he wanted her. The hardening in his pants against her panties made her moan. Jumping into him Clary's feet locked above his ass and she sighed at the increased contact. Everything about him was lean muscle and heat. An electrifying shiver went through her as Jace gave a shallow rock of his hips. Rolling herself into him Clary felt the press of his fingers on her bare thighs. Jace pushed the silk of her slip further up, his hands greedily touching the newly exposed skin. His hands kneading the flesh with vigor. Ducking his head down the column of her throat Jace sucked on the skin, his lips leaving behind blossoming marks in a vivid purple.

Clary squirmed against his hands, they were so close to where she wanted them. She felt the fabric bunch up under her breasts, holding her arms above her head as he slipped it off her body, she giggled when he flung it away like it burned him. Her laughter died on her lips when she realized that the stripped material left her in only her underwear. Her naked torso pressed against Jace's. A gluttonous and needy groan falling from her at the skin to skin contact.

"Jace," His thumb flicked her raised nipple lightly. "Please."

"Anything you want, pretty girl." His mouth closed over her breast and Clary's head fell backwards with a cry. Red tendrils tangling in Jace's hand down her back.

She barely felt him push away from the wall and walk down to their bedroom, only realizing they had moved when her back met the messy sheets. Jace knelt over her, one of his hands palming her breast while the other was nestled between her thighs. He fingered the soaked fabric of her boyshorts but didn't touch her further. His teeth bit down on her nipple and Clary's hand tightened in his hair.

Blindly, Clary reached for the tie of his sweatpants. Kicking the offensive covering down his legs. Jace's mouth released her nipple, and he watched her as his hand slid inside the ban of her underwear. Her eyes shut when his calloused finger pushed inside and dipped into her, her teeth chewing her lip. Clary ripped his biceps in her hands, her nails scratching him.

Jace pumped inside her, enjoying the feel of her squeezing him and trying to pull him further inside. Adding another finger, Jace used the pad of his thumb to rub against her clit. He kissed her soundly, never stopping or changing the rhythm of his hand.

"Faster," She pleaded between gasps.

Wanting to please her, Jace gave a few harsh thrusts of his hand. He was drowning in the breathy sighs and cries she made. Her whole body moved with his fingers as he beckoned them. Her hips lifting from the bed, searching for release. A building orgasm in her stomach. Without warning, Jace ripped his hand away from her, along with the last piece of clothing covering her. He lined himself to her opening and sheathed inside her in one push of his hips. Clary screamed as the bubble in her stomach burst. Her nails drawing blood from his back. Sobbing, Clary felt him kiss all of her face. Jace hadn't moved a single inch, his whole length was inside and Clary could feel her muscles stretching to accommodate him.

"Are you okay, pretty girl?" Nodding Clary smiled up at him. His eyes were filled with affection and when he pulled out she missed him instantly. He made a few shallow plunges, each time not pulling out all the way. The head of his penis staying inside as he moved gently.

"Baby, if you don't speed the fuck up I will flip you." Clary threatened.

"What language, Miss Fray." He propped himself on his elbows, hovering above her.

He looked down to where their bodies met. Her legs opened and welcoming his length inside. Jace released an animalistic growl as he gripped her hips. His movements became erratic and hard, Jace hit a spot in her core that made her vision blur and her back arch.

The wave of pleasure flooded her senses and all she could feel was Jace, his breathing and his hands. He collapsed on top of her in a heap of sweat and loose muscles.

"I can't decide if I want to kill Iz for interrupting us so much before or thank her for getting you that damn babydoll." Jace muttered tiredly against her neck, still flaccidly inside her. He tried to lift himself as to not squash her but Clary tightened her arms around him.

Together they fell into a deep sleep, nothing keeping them apart. The blinking phone on the nightstand illuminating their bodies.

 **~o.O.o~**

Jace woke up from a wiggling in his side. His back ached and he remembered the sting of her fingernails into the taut skin. Groggily opening his eyes Jace saw his girlfriends determined face, her lip pulled between her teeth as she tried to sneak out of his arms.

"What are you doing? Stay in bed." Clary squeaked at the sleep drawn voice asked.

Glancing up she stifled a giggle at the lost look in his eyes. He looked like an adorable little boy, not wanting to let go of his favorite toy. She kissed his lips quickly and whispered,"I have to go shower. I'm all sweaty and gross."

"No, you aren't. You smell amazing." As if to prove his point, Jace buried his nose in her disheveled hair. He inhaled deeply and then sighed contently.

"Baby, I smell like sex and-" Jace growled from behind her and pulled her tighter against his chest when she tried to get out of their bed again. Clary felt his hands cup her breasts and the bite at the junction of her neck.

"Me. You smell like me and I fucking love it," Using his hand to open her legs Clary felt the heat and moisture building. Jace entered her battered sex, gripping her hips and moving inside her in a slow rock. "Don't you love it, pretty girl?"

Pushing back against him she felt his hand pinch the little button between her legs. Jace moved sluggishly in comparison to last night but Clary appreciated the slowness of his thrusts nonetheless. She didn't know if she could handle it rough right now.

Clary couldn't think, didn't want to think, about anything other than the man behind her. He could make her feel like she was floating hundreds of feet in the air. She wanted to blurt it out, _I love you_ , but she stopped herself before the words left her mouth. What if he thought she was only saying it because they had- were having sex?

"Clary." Jace whispered. Clary couldn't speak, only grunt as a response. He pulled out all they way and before Clary could yell at him, Jace was buried to the hilt and pounding into her with energy she didn't know where he found. His hand held her leg away from where they were joined, the position letting him push deeper than before. "Are you with me, pretty girl?"

"Yes!" They went through the rhythm twice before Jace was coming inside her, Clary screamed his name into the pillow when her own orgasm shook her.

Jace didn't pull away from her as she came down from her high. Jace was completely sated. He had Clary in his arms and her skin had a healthy postorgasmic glow that made his insides turn to mush. He hoped that the orgasm would tire her out enough to go back to sleep so he wouldn't have to be in bed alone.

When Clary began lifting herself up again, Jace flipped her onto her back. "Would you please let me go so I can shower?"

"No." He pouted. Jace wanted to fuck her again but his dick wasn't on the same page, it would take a while before he could get hard enough to last longer. He didn't want to let her go and he wasn't in the right state to get into the shower with her. An idea came into his head and Jace grinned devilishly at her suspicious face.

Kissing down her chest, he circled both of her nipples, before continuing further down. He heard her inhale quickly as he spread her legs open. Her lips were red and glistening with her juices. Jace used his finger to gather some of her cream and, looking into her eyes, brought it to his mouth. It tasted like honey and cinnamon, with a little bitter aftertaste but Jace found it amazing. His Clary.

"What are you- Oh!" She grabbed onto his hair as his mouth closed over her. His fingers slipped inside her roughly and he felt the walls tighten around them. She was quickly becoming wet and Jace wanted to taste her again.

Licking her slit he moaned, "God, your taste." Pushing her legs over his shoulders Jace twirled his tongue over the swollen bud. He loved the way she smelled, the way her breasts bounced as she arched off the rumpled duvet.

"Fuck!" He chuckled at her language, the vibration traveling from her cunt and into the pit of her stomach. "Don't stop!"

His tongue replaced his fingers, forcing itself as deep as he could go. Using his hands to keep her legs open as she rode his face. Clary was screaming his name and Jace thought, in passing, that they were definitely putting on a show for their neighbors. Before she could come Jace released her and climbed over her body.

She stared at him with wide eyes, Clary was about to cry. She had been so close! She had been hanging off the edge and now she was falling back on land and it was so cruel. Laying on his sore back, Jace tugged his girlfriend to straddle his hip. His rejuvenated member jutting out against her stomach.

"Ride me," His voice was raw and he gave a little thrust into the air. Clary grabbed him mercilessly, still not overly happy about being abandoned on the verge of an orgasm.

Jace helped guide her as she pushed him into her heated sex. Their moans combining when he was all the way in her core. His hands massaged her breasted as she moved leisurely above of him. They were firm and the perfect size to fit in his palms. His golden eyes drifted to her sex and he watched in fascination as his cock disappeared between her folds.

"Jace." Clary leaned down and kissed him. Her chest gliding over his with her movements. This was her upteenth orgasm in twelve hours and Clary was sure that if this kept happening she would die. "Jace." Tears were flowing down her face.

Jace stilled their rocking hips, worry gnawed at him. Pushing strands of red hair away from her face Jace felt his heart crack. Her eyes were red and there were streaks of tears down her cheeks. "Woah, pretty girl, what's wrong? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Clary shook her head quickly, "Of course not. I just-" Clary buried her face in his neck. Jace waited patiently for her to continue, running his fingers through her hair gently. "I want to come. I _need_ to come but I can't."

"I can take care of that, love." The word came so naturally that Jace didn't notice he had said it. He sat against the headboard, Clary still in his lap. Her sniffles turned to cries of pleasure as he used her hips to slam her down on him. Over and over again until she couldn't see clearly. He gripped her chin in his hand and commanded in a low voice, "Come."

Clary fell from the edge she'd been hanging off of. Her screams swallowed by his mouth. She could taste herself on him and he continued the relentless pace as she came down. Collapsing against his chest Clary expected him to stop, but he didn't. She couldn't take anymore. Her pussy was protesting the continued intrusion.

Raising her head Clary whimpered as he suddenly stood on his feet, still inside her. Clary wrapped her legs around him as he walked to the corner of the room. Sweeping his arm over the desk Clary heard the mass of pens and paper hitting the floor.

He sat her on the wooden surface. "Jace, fuck…" Before she could finish he was pushing her to lay down on the cold desk.

"I haven't gotten to come again. That's not fair, now, is it?" He grinned wickedly from above her and Clary gripped the rim of the bureau. With a hand on her stomach for support, Jace increased his already reckless penetration. He wasn't human, Clary decided.

Despite her already worn out body, she could feel herself squeezing him tighter. Trying to hold his throbbing cock in her hot passage. He came shortly after, his semen filling her further and running down her milky thighs. Leaning down Jace kissed her lips.

"You're amazing."

"Are you talking to me or my vagina?"

 **~o.O.o~**

Jace had eventually let her go shower, after his last orgasm he had been too tired to argue with her about getting out of bed. In fact, when she had come out of the bathroom Jace was sound asleep. Clary dressed quickly and shut the door on her way out.

She was happy that their relationship had finally reached the physical stage. She loved spending time with Jace just kissing and lightly touching each other but last night and this morning had been magnetic. Clary was drawn to him even more. Knowing she could drive him crazy in bed was comforting. It was hard for her to admit but she had been a little scared of getting sexual- Jace had been with a lot of girls and she hadn't dated more than a handful of guys. A part of her had been scared that she wouldn't be good enough.

Clary grinned when she spotted his shirt and her babydoll in the living room, the shirt was next to the couch where she had dropped it but her dress was hanging off the bookshelf. Clary reminded herself that her boyfriend was an athlete and it shouldn't surprise her, with that realization also came the epiphany that this morning's escapades were probably a normal amount for Jace. Cringing, Clary tried not to think of how sore she would be constantly.

An hour later Jace found Clary in the kitchen, pulling out a tray of chocolate chip cookies from the oven. Silently Jace wrapped his arms around her, laughing when she jumped.

"I have the most amazing girlfriend in the world." Kissing her cheek Jace steals a handful of cookies from the balmy platter. Clary tried to smack his hand away but he was too quick for her and she was still pretty tired. "I love you."

Clary was sure that she had stopped breathing. Turning back to her boyfriend Clary stared at him with wide eyes, "What did you just say?"

"I love you," He repeated simply. Jace was anxious as he watched her mull over his confession. He had tried to keep it in but she felt so right in his arms, in their apartment. He had to tell her. Even if she didn't say it back, Jace felt a weight lift away from his chest.

"I love you, too." Her beaming smile was enough to make Jace forget about every single woman he had ever so much as looked at. Clary Fray was the only one who mattered in his eyes, who would ever matter. Jace leaned down and kissed her softly, gently, lovingly. His heart felt full and complete and Jace couldn't imagine a way his life could ever get better than in this moment. In the kitchen, with his girlfriend, coming off of an orgasm high _and cookies_.

A knock sounded through the apartment, with a cookie hanging from his mouth, Jace opened the door. Simon was on the other side. He wore his regular graphic tee shirt and ripped jeans and Jace wondered if he owned anything other than that. Smiling lightly at his girlfriends best friend he let Simon into the apartment.

Jace wasn't jealous when Simon hugged Clary. Simon and Izzy were seeing each other casually and Clary was his. His girlfriend, his lover, his whole world. "Hey, Clare-Bear, you ready to head out to lunch?"

"I totally forgot, I'm so sorry, Si." Clary rushed, embarrassed to have forgotten. "Let me grab a jacket and we can go." Clary came back a minute later, tugging her arm through the sleeve of her coat. On their way out the door she leaned on her toes and kissed his cheek, "I love you."

"I love you, too." Jace called out down the stairs, grinning like a fool as Iz and Alec came around the corner. Isabelle pulled a five dollar bill out of her pocket and handed it to their brother. Jace looked between them, confused. "Do I want to know?" Izzy shook her head.

* * *

 _To Be Continued...  
_

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Mortal Instruments.**

 **To the people who guessed that Cecily (mentioned in Winter Wonderland) was Jace's mother- you were wrong. To the guest who asked for two chapters a day- dude I'm pumping out like three chapters a week, I have a life, a family. Read my other stories.**

 **How are you guys feeling about this story? Are you enjoying all of the updates that have been happening all month? There's only ten chapters of this story in all so I mean I'm about to finish this entire story before December so 10/10 for me. This story is all fluffy and sweet and generally fucking adorable that I feel like after I finish this I'm going to write a dark af story with demons and murder and shit just to even out my life. There was a lot of sex here and I didn't expect it but here we are. This was a fuckfest.**

 **Review!**


	9. Can't We All Just Be Friends?

**{Chapter Nine}**

 **~o.O.o~**

"Clary, the apartment is spotless, you have to stop dusting." Jace tried to pry the rag away from his girlfriend. Clary had a deathgrip and her knuckles were turning white. Jace knew she was nerve wracked, she had been up since five cleaning the entire apartment. Jace didn't like sleeping without her and he liked the vacuum at that time even less.

"What if she doesn't like me? What if she hates my guts and thinks I'm not good enough for you and then we have to break up because she's family and I lose you and-" Clary rambled, her hands moving animatedly. Jace wanted to tell her she was his family, his home, but he couldn't. He couldn't tell her yet.

"That won't happen. Even if Nana doesn't like you, I'm not going anywhere." Jace rubbed her shoulders soothingly and kissed her forehead. Imogen Herondale was coming back to New York for a week and, having heard about Clary through the grapevine that was Isabelle Lightwood, wanted to meet his girlfriend.

"Promise?" She asked in a small, uncertain voice.

Looking into her eyes, Jace knew that even if his grandmother hated Clary with her entire being he wasn't going anywhere. "Promise."

Clary placed a chaste kiss on the corner of his lips. "I love you." Hugging him around the waist Clary looked up at him. He was hers. Jace ducked his head.

"I love you, too." He replied against her lips.

The doorbell rang and Clary jumped away from him, her hands straightening wrinkles in her clothes that Jace was certain weren't there. Her face was flushed and she studied the room again, making sure there was nothing out of place. Shaking his head, Jace opened the door. His grandmother was a stern woman. Her clothes impeccable, greying blonde hair cut cleanly at the shoulder, and a medium sized suitcase at her feet.

"Nana," Imogen grinned, the crows feet on her temples stretching. Jace hugged her and he felt the familiar warmth from his childhood seep into his bones from the tight embrace his grandmother held him in.

"My darling, let me look at you. I swear you get bigger every time I see you." Imogen slipped passed him as Jace rolled her luggage into the livingroom. "You've redecorated!"

Jace glanced around the room. Imogen was right, it was a lot different than the last time his grandmother had been there. From the colorful pillows on the couch and the easel in the corner of the room to the family pictures hung on the walls. Clary had told him she found the album in his locked drawer and, even though he wasn't sure at first, she had convinced him to make copies and frame his favorites. Along with those there were pictures of Alec and Magnus' wedding, the Lightwoods, Isabelle and Clary, and his personal favorite, a bigger canvas print of Clary and himself.

Before it had been cold, he realized that now. The whole apartment had been an empty place because he had been an empty person. All he cared about was getting girls and his siblings. Sometimes they would even take the backseat if he had a sure thing lined up. It wasn't like that anymore. Not since Clary came into his life. Now it felt warm. The apartment, his family. He spent time more time with Alec and Izzy, he even took Church to the veterinarian for Magnus once in awhile, but most importantly, he had Clary.

To love, to hold, to treasure. For as long as she would have him.

"Clary did it," He finally said. Not elaborating that it was more than just the living space that his girlfriend had turned into a better place.

"I see," His grandmother said not unkindly. She eyed him and nodded absentmindedly. Clary came into the room from the kitchen. "Hello dear, I'm Imogen and you must be Clary."

Clary shook his grandmother's hand and nodded, "It's very nice to finally meet you."

Her voice was soft and Jace could hear the timid tinge. Clary wound her fingers and pulled at a loose string on her sweater, it was one of her nervous ticks. Jace stepped next to her and took her hand, stopping her from unraveling the knitted pattern because of her anxiousness. Imogen watched their fingers intertwine with interest.

"How long have you two been together?" Imogen questioned, sitting on the nearest chair in the living room. Clary and Jace sat opposite of her, Jace's thumb circling her knuckles.

"We've known each other almost two years and we've been going out nine months." Jace replied honestly. He wasn't planning on lying to his grandmother and he didn't see a reason why he should want to. The only thing he wanted to keep between Clary and himself was their sexlife, everything else was public knowledge.

"That's quite a long time." Imogen clicked her heels against the floor, looking at them curiously. Jace could hear the wheels turning in her head, she knew he was never in a relationship this long. Imogen never met any of the girls he "dated".

In fact, Jace could remember only introducing Imogen to one girl other than Clary in his entire life. A one night stand he had that was leaving when Imogen had popped up for a visit.

Jace pulled their joined hands into his lap, "Yeah."

Imogen could see the love and affection on her grandsons face, his features were softened and his eyes were staring at his girlfriend like she was the only one in the world.

"I see." Imogen rose out of her chair with poise. She wanted to ask more questions but she could tell how nervous Clary was. The girl would be more comfortable with her after a good night's sleep. "Well, I'm very tired and it's getting late."

Clary perked up, "Are you sure? I made dinner if you're hungry."

"Thank you dear, but I'm getting older and these long flights are taking a toll." Clary nodded and gave his grandmother one of her sweetest smiles. Imogen returned the gesture and continued down the hallway, pulling her bag behind her.

When Imogen disappeared inside Clary's old room, Jace turned to his girlfriend. "Try to breathe, baby. Just relax." He stressed.

"I can't help it." Clary turned off the lights in the living room while Jace locked the door. "I just want her to like me. She's your grandmother and I know how much she means to you. I want her to like me because I already like her and I don't want to be in a one sided relationship."

"You are an angel." Jace kissed her nose and she giggled. "I love you."

"I love you." Clary had felt liberated to be able to say it. She made it a point to tell him everyday, especially when she was mad or nervous. Stressful days like today made her feel even luckier to have him than normal.

"I never get tired of hearing that," Jace grinned as they walked through their apartment and into their bedroom. Clary kicked off her jeans and slipped one of his tee shirts over her head. When she crawled into bed and into his arms she felt home and safe. "Hey, Fray?"

"Hmm?" Clary angled her head to see her boyfriends face.

Jace's fingers ran gently up and down her back. "I'm really happy you didn't end up collecting your nail clippings and back hair into a jar."

"You don't know all my secrets." Jace's chest rumbled with laughter as he kissed her temple. "Sweet dreams."

"Sleep tight, pretty girl."

Across the hall, Imogen listened to their goodnights with the leather of her grandsons album resting heavily in her hands. She twisted the little box in her lithe fingers before opening it. Inside, nestled in the little crevice, was her daughter-in-law's ring. Princess cut with a 14 carat diamond. It was a grand ring, one she's given to her son from her own mother.

She wondered if the redheaded girl knew that Jace had it.

 **~o.O.o~**

Jace took his grandmother out to breakfast the next morning, not letting her question his girlfriend anymore before he got a chance to talk to her. She needed to know that Clary wasn't just a phase or after his money. She was the real deal and he wanted Imogen to like her.

"I heard Alec and Magnus got married, how wonderful." Imogen said, stabbing at her omelette as she spoke. Her eyes crinkled when she smiled.

"Yeah, it was a beautiful ceremony. Clary spent weeks planning it." He said with pride.

"Does she know Alec and Magnus well?"

Jace nodded, swallowing his food before speaking. "She went to highschool with Magnus and she's known Alec and Iz as long as she's known me."

"Have you met her parents?"

"Last December," Jace said with a simple shrug. He had gotten to know Jocelyn and Luke more over the last couple of months. He knew that Clary got her natural artistic ability from her mother and her fiery temper from her dad. Jace liked her parents, they called once in awhile to check in with them. It was an interesting feeling to have them in his life. "She really wanted to meet you, Nana."

Imogen's thin brows rose, "Did she? I was afraid I'd gone and dropped in unwelcomed."

"Nonsense, you're family. You can come to our apartment anytime." Imogen noticed how he claimed the apartment as theirs, not his. "Nana, maybe you should ask Clary some questions too, you know, get to know her?"

"This is important to you, me knowing her?"

"To both of us," Jace amended. "Just sit with her, have a cup of tea and get to know my girl." He let the words hang between them hopefully, he knew that even if his grandmother hated Clary for some reason or another it wouldn't change the way he felt about his girlfriend.

"For you," Imogen covered his hand with her warmer one.

"Thank you. Now, tell me about your wild and adolescent trip around the Baltics." They sat and talked. Catching up on missed holidays and miscellaneous adventures in distant countries. Jace always loved spending time with his grandmother, it was like the best Christmas and birthday present combined growing up.

Jace could remember the countless childhood bedtime stories Nana Imogen would whisper in his ear while tucking him in. She had the best anecdotes- ones that warped his young mind like bendable plastic. It had all seemed so impossible. Imogen's backpacking through Europe, a cruise ship she stirred into harbor, a forgotten library she'd discovered.

Of course now, Jace could see the small exaggerations in her stories. They were all true except with the occasional fib to keep his little attention span focused on her. For example, the lost library she'd found hadn't actually been _lost_ , it was actually an old monastery that had been abandoned by monks less than a decade ago. Mostly because of the structural instability of the caves they were in. Still an interesting tale, but Jace doubted he would have found it as fun if it wasn't for his obsession with Indiana Jones.

Jace listened intently as she retold the trip she accidentally took to Bermuda last week. She'd told him over the phone after it had happened but he loved listening to her. Imogen was an avid talker. She gestured with her hands when she spoke and her face lit up.

"Nana, you get into so much trouble. Are you ever going to settle anywhere?" Jace asked.

Jace was never the type of guy who thought about the white picket fence, two kids and a dog running through the backyard trope. The chance hadn't happened with Clary overnight, it wasn't like a switch turned in his head and he wanted to live in and out of a daycare. But the chance was there. Suddenly he didn't mind thinking about a house in the suburbs or two frizzy haired kids chasing a puppy around the yard. The one complete certainty he had in his life was that Clary Fray would be apart of whatever future was in store for him.

"I never thought I would hear you talk about _settling,_ " His grandmother gapped. "It was always about the adventure with you, never about the destination."

"I guess I finally got to the destination."

 **~o.O.o~**

Clary grinned at her boyfriend's grandmother. Her fingers curled around the warm ceramic of her coffee mug. Imogen had been staying with them for two days but this was the only time Clary had been able to sit and have a normal conversation with her.

Well, as close to normal as the two women could get. It wasn't that they were hostile, openly anyways, there was a level of coldness that Imogen emitted. Clary could see the softness in her voice when she spoke to her grandson but when Jace had left, the warmth had gone with him. Leaving behind the levelheaded and calculating woman behind.

"Has Jace ever told you about his parents?"

Leaning forward in her chair she slowly nodded. "His dad was the CEO of Alicante International and his mom was a model in Milan. They met during Paris fashion week. Got married six months later and another eight months after the happy day, Jonathan Christopher Herondale was born. Three years after that, Cecily was born." Clary stopped to take a breath. It was hard for her to talk about Jace's life, she couldn't imagine living it.

"He told you all that?" Imogen poured herself another cup of tea. She studied Clary calmly but Clary could hear the edge in her voice.

"We stay up talking a lot, sometimes he talks about them." Clary explained lightly, Imogen wordlessly prompted Clary to continue. "He was twelve when they died in a car accident and he went to live with you, here, in New York, but you would travel so much that he moved in with Alec and became apart of the Lightwood."

"After my family died it was hard for me, but I had to stay strong for Jace. Sometimes it got so-" Imogen's eyes clouded with sadness. "So _difficult_ to look at Jace. He was a carbon copy of his dad at that age and even now..."

Unthinking, Clary reached out and grasped her hand. "You don't have to defend yourself. I can't imagine going through what you did, what you both did. Jace was - _is_ \- lucky to have you and the Lightwoods."

"You aren't like the other girls Jace would hang around with." Imogen squeezed Clary's startled hand. A slow smile spread on the elder woman's face. "He's different around you, happier. I haven't seen him that way since before the accident. Thank you for that."

"That's all I want for him." A moment of understanding passed between the two women. Imogen could see how much Clary loves her grandson and Clary could see how much Imogen wanted the best for Jace. Imogen respected Clary for that, for how much the redhead meant what she said, she really did just want happiness for him.

"Enough of this dreary topic, let's look at some of his more embarrassing pictures." Clary smiled thankfully, it seemed like Imogen was approving of her on some level. It put Clary at ease at least a little. She was worried that Imogen not liking her would lead to tension between her and Jace. And not the good kind.

Imogen stood from the table with an elegant sweep of her skirt, "I know he keeps one of his more humiliating albums in an old copy of Sun Tzu's Art of War. I'll be right back, dear."

While she disappeared down the hall, Clary broke apart a cookie with her fingers. It was all going well with his grandmother. It calmed her nerves down, she was thankful that Imogen had come to visit. It was nice to see the softest side of Jace, the one reserved for his family.

"What's this?" Imogen held up the little perfume bottle with tears in her eyes. She read the label 'Cecily', and ran her fingernail against the ribbon around the neck. "I remember the day the last one ran out, Jace was devastated. He spent hours trying to find a replacement but he never did. How he cried that night, oh he wouldn't stop." She searched Clary's face for the answer, although she spoke mostly to herself. "How is this here?"

"Jace vaguely mentioned that his mom knew a perfumer in France." Clary started. "He said that for Cecily's eighth birthday their mom made a perfume for her. I tracked down Celine's agent while she worked in Milan and then he told me about her personal perfumer. Francis made the bottle for me and I gave it to Jace for Christmas."

Imogen walked towards Clary, for a second the redhead was afraid that she might break down in tears. The older woman wrapped her arms around Clary in a bone crushing embrace. Clary heard her sniffle into her shoulder and she gave her a few comforting pats on the shoulder. It wasn't that she didn't know how to help people who were upset, it's that she was socially inept when it came to it sometimes. Like when her boyfriends grandmother is crying and holding a bottle of her deceased granddaughters perfume in her hand.

"Nana?" Imogen and Clary broke apart at Jace's voice drifting from behind them. "Baby? What the hell did I just walk into? Did you two bond over murdering someone?" Jace glanced around the room, as if searching for the dead body that had to be responsible for the hug.

"No, you silly duck," Jace cringed away from the offensive animal name. "Clary and I have been having a great morning."

Jace foreigned a look of indignation. "That's shocking."

"Oh, bite me, Jace." Clary joked with her boyfriend. At Jace's cat-ate-the-canary grin she quickly backpedaled. "That wasn't an invitation." Jace grabbed onto her hips and nipped at her shoulder. She giggled and squirmed away from the ticklish love bites.

"Alright, you two. Let's go to lunch." Imogen smiled at them kindly.

"Let me just grab my bag." As she passed by Imogen the older woman patted her back.

Jace watched his girlfriend round the corner, "So you like her?"

Imogen nodded in earnest. "She's a sweet girl, considerate too. Nothing like the regular girls you used to hang out with."

"How do-?" He had kept a very tight leash on any girl he spent time with. He didn't want them getting it in their head that they were an item now. He especially didn't want his grandmother finding out and looking at him disapprovingly.

"I'm old, Jace, not senile."

Clary appeared with her bag slung over her shoulder. "Ready?"

"Yup." Jace popped the word in a higher pitch than he expected.

 **~o.O.o~**

The bar stool dug uncomfortably into Jace's ass. It was his first night out with Alec for a while. Clary was his first priority, whom he spent all his time with and then Magnus had whisked Alec away. "How was your honeymoon, Mr Bane?"

"He's the one with the hyphen and surprisingly uneventful. We sat around in our little oceanside hut and drank mimosas by the gallon." Alec waved the bartender for another round. Smiling in thanks, he turned back to Jace.

"That can't be good for your kidney," Alec looked down at the handful of empty shot glasses between them with a raised eyebrow. Jace snorted and split the new shots evenly. "Bora Bora, does it live up to the hype?"

"Definitely. You thinking about testing it out for your own honeymoon?" Alec joked. When Jace didn't laugh or answer, Alec lowered the full glass of tequila and turned to fully look at his longest friend.

Looked relaxed, he looked like he always did. Leather jacket, knowing grin and his pianist fingers tapping against the wood of the bar. Jace had changed so much over the course of the last year. Everything about him had shifted slightly- his smile became more genuine, he thought about the future more and he didn't spend his time going from bar to bar. Clary was the catalyst of the change in his life.

Jace took a sip of his beer and dug into his pocket. "Nah," He popped a black box next to Alec's hand, tapping the lid with his forefinger. "I was thinking Venice is more Clary's style."

"Wait, you're serious?" Alec eyed the box in front of him with concern.

It wasn't that he didn't think Clary and Jace were perfect for each other, they were. The gnawing feeling in his gut wondered sick, little thoughts that wondered if Jace was ready for such a commitment. This was the first time that Jace had ever shown actual human emotions for a girl, other than lust. Alec was just worried that Jace might regret his choice of moving so fast later on in life. And both of them deserved better.

"I love her, man. I can't imagine spending my life without her." Alec popped open the little box and gaped at the ring inside. "Holy shit, dude. This is nicer _and bigger_ than ones we looked at when I was about to propose to Magnus."

"You and Magnus got married? Thanks for the invitation, Lightwood." Jordan sat perched across the bar waiting for his drink.

Alec didn't hate Jordan- certainly never liked him. He was always too cocky, too full of himself, too much of an encouragement for Jace's dark side. Jordan cheating on his girlfriends didn't seem like a stretch to Alec. When he saw Maia and him together it always seemed staged. Like a play performed for other people's entertainment.

"What are you doing here, Kyle?" Jace's eyes narrowed when Jordan smirked.

Jordan's eyes were glazed over from the alcohol. Alec could tell this hadn't been his first drink for the night. Alec's apprehension grew when Jace slid out of the seat. "This isn't your apartment, you can't kick me out for no reason."

"No reason? You cheated on Clary for _months_ and then walked into our apartment like you didn't do anything wrong." Alec stepped between the two men.

"Okay, I think we all need to take a step back." Alec gently pushed them away from each other. Alec could feel the tension between the old roommates.

Jordan studied him, his fisted hands and growing annoyance. Jordan laughed humorlessly. "Oh, I get it. You're fucking her, aren't you?"

"What I do with my girlfriend is none of your business."

"Girlfriend? What did she do to get you, of all people, to bend over backwards and commit? Or maybe she's the one who bent over backwards." Jace growled, baring his teeth.

Alec wasn't too certain if it was the alcohol or the natural piss mood that Jace was in anytime Jordan Kyle was mentioned, but the next thing he saw was a blur diving over the stools between them. Jace's fist connected with Jordan's stomach, doubling him over. Alec pried himself between them, dodging a few shallow punches from Jordan. Jace slammed his hands against Jordan's chest- Jordan fell over a barstool, knocking several bottles and chairs to the ground. With a renewed fury Jordan tackled both of them to the floor.

Alec tried to avoid hitting Jordan as much as he could but that didn't last long when Jordan kneed him in the groin. All bets were off. Alec crawled out from the two battling men. Jace was straddling Jordan's waist, his hair whipping against his momentum. Jace's fist connected with Jordan's face, over and over again. An infuriated scream tearing from his throat.

"Jace, stop! That enough! Jace!" Alec clutched Jace's jacket. Pulling his arms behind his back. Jace fought against him, he had tunnel vision. All he could see was Jordan hurting Clary. Alec finally ripped him away from Jordan, slumping dead tired.

"There! Those three," A scared waitress pointed towards them, a police officer eyed them with contempt- his fingers wrapping around the handcuffs on his belt.

Alec closed his eyes tightly, it'd been years since the two of them had gotten thrown in jail. He believed the last time they were arrested was when they were trying to cross the Mexican border after having all their documents stolen by an old woman.

"You have the right to remain silent…"

Jace sat in the barred room with his head in his hands. How could he do something so stupid. He wasn't a teenager anymore, he had to think about his actions While in lockup Jace thanks more than ever. He stretched his sore fingers and glared at his bloodied knuckles. His eyesight was blurred and the left side of his face was purple and bruised.

"Magnus is going to kill us," Alec groaned from beside his best friend. "I don't blame you but I do call dibs on the entire Star Wars trilogy for the next two months."

Jace chuckled before thinking better of it and clutching his hurting side. "Does that include Isabelle keeping quiet about this whole thing and not telling Nana Imogen?"

"Absolutely," His best friend held out his fist.

Jace bumped his closed hand against Alecs and grinned lightheartedly. "Deal."

"Can you two shut up? I have a headache." The third man in the cell bit out. His brown head buried in his bent legs. Jace's fingernails dug into his palm as his fists balled at the man's voice. He was so enraged at the man who just sat there, broken nosed and angry.

"Hey!" A blue clad police officer came around the front of the cell. He held out a cellphone in his hand. "You three, which one of you wants his phone call first?"

"He'll take it," Alec said, pointing at Jace's slumped form, before the other man in the cell could speak up. Alec shoved Jace towards the outstretched phone.

Jace dialed her number from memory. He distantly recognized that it was late and both his girlfriend and his grandmother were asleep but in that moment he just wanted to hear Clary's voice. His girlfriend answered on the second ring. "Hey, baby."

"Jace, it's two in the morning. Where are you?" Her voice was groggy but he could hear the concern laced with her words. He could hear the rustle of sheets as she sat up in bed.

"I know it's late but I did something stupid. I kind of got arrested."

"Jace Herondale, after I bail you out of jail I'm kicking your ass." Clary growled dangerously. "I love you." She added as an afterthought.

"I love you too." He heard her sigh before the line went dead.

"So you two are already on the 'I love you' stage, took her two years to say that to me." Jordan drew from behind him. Jace could see his eyes look at the phone and turn away.

"Aren't you going to call someone to bail you out or do you get your rocks off on sitting in a cell?" Alec questioned with a discreet snarl.

"Maia broke up with me last night, my family lives on the other side of the States and you were my only friends in New York. There's no one _to_ call." Jordan stressed.

"Who's fault is that? _You_ screwed up with Clary, _you_ screwed up with Maia, _you_ screwed up with us. Can you see the constant variable?" Jace poked his finger in Jordan's stiff chest. "It's you, Jordan. You're the faulty little piece in all of our lives."

"Jace…" Alec whispered. He understood why Jace was so angry but a part of him wondered if he was being cruel.

"I should thanks you, actually. Thank you for cheating on Clary, thank you for moving out so she could move in, and _thank you_ for giving me the chance to find the love of my life."

Jordan faked a confident smile, "You're welcome."

 **~ _Clary_ ~**

Clary marched down to the NYPD precinct in rightful state of pissed off. It was three in the _goddamned_ morning and her boyfriend was an idiot what landed himself in jail. She couldn't believe he would do something so juvenile. Clary didn't even know what he did but she was certain that if he didn't have a good reason he was sleeping on the couch.

"Excuse me," Clary gave the desk clerk Jace and Alec's full names and signed the bail slips. She couldn't believe that both of those idiots wound up in jail. They had better have stellar reasons behind whatever happened tonight.

When Jace and Alec left the apartment around ten, Jace had promised not to cause any trouble. How wrong could a boy be? Apparently time in jail wrong.

She was so angry by the time the officer pointed her towards Jace and Alec's holding cell. There he was, sagged against the wall with his face and hands bloodied. All the rage drained out of her when she read the distress on his face.

His head snapped up to attention when he heard her, "Clary. I'm so sorry, baby."

"We will talk about this when we get home." Clary warned.

"Herondale and Lightwood, you're free to go. Keep yourselves out of trouble from now on, for this nice lady, eh, boys?" The pudgy officer clicked the passcode into the door, swinging it open on its rusted hinges. Alec thanked him on the way out and gave Clary a hesitant hug.

That's when she noticed the other man beside her boyfriend and his best friend. Jordan sat on the bench, stuck in the corner and glaring towards her boyfriend. With a sigh, Clary pointed at her ex. "I'll take the third power ranger wannabe, too."

"You sure?" She could feel the questioning look from both Alec and Jace but she nodded her head towards the policeman.

She didn't know what made her say it but Clary felt bad for him. Jordan was never the type to start a fight. Whatever the hell was going on with him since she broke it off wasn't her business, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized how _alone_ he must be. Clary didn't wait for Jordan to walk out of the cell, she didn't wait for Alec and Jace to follow her- Clary bolted up the stairs.

When the four of them stepped outside into the cold breeze of New York, Clary fisted her hands into her pocket and continued to walk ahead of them. "Clary."

"Not right now, Alec, just keep quiet right now." She held up her hand in a silent plea for him to not make things worse for her right now. How could the three of them get into a fight and thrown into jail? What the hell were they thinking?

"Clary, please."

"Don't you _'Clary, please'_ me. You want to have this conversation, right now? Fine, let's talk. I am so fucking pissed off with you, all three of you. What the hell were you thinking? You're _adults_ , _adults_ don't start bar fights, _adults_ don't get thrown in jail, _adults_ don't-" Clary stopped yelling with a heavy breath. Tears welled up in her eyes and she couldn't move from her spot on the street.

Jace stepped towards her, "I'm sorry." His hands reached out to her but he pulled away before he could touch her. "Let's go home."

Jordan waved down a cab. "Thanks for bailing me out. See you around."

"You'd better hope not, Kyle." Jace called out after him. A hard smack hitting his arm.

"Stop being so damn hostile and making things worse for yourself." Alec inclined his head towards an upset Clary. "Thank you, sweetheart." Alec kissed the crown of Clary's head as he passed by her. Neither of them noticing where he went.

Jace and Clary walked home in silence, untouching. The apartment was dark and quiet when they went inside. Everything looked the same- the tidy television area, the soft golden light drifting into the sitting room from the kitchen. It was a tense silence that stretched between them. Jace dropped his keys in the twine bowl next to the door.

Jace glanced around the room, fingering the box in his pocket. "Where's Nana?"

He half expected Imogen to run out of the guest room like a bat out of hell, probably with a weapon of some sort.

"I think she figured out there would be a lot of yelling tonight and moved to Izzy's spare room." Clary said lifelessly and without turning to face him. She shrugged her jacket down her arms and Jace could see her pajama top peeking out, it reminded him how late it was.

"Clary-"

"What the hell were you thinking, starting a fight like that?" She ranted. "Maybe you thought you were protecting me or fighting for my honor Princess Bride style, but getting yourself a criminal record doesn't exactly make me want to have sex with you. Well, maybe a dark fantasy, but not right now. I just don't understand how you thought it was a good idea."

"I know how mad you are right now, and I really wish that I didn't want to do this right now," Clary finally whipped around towards him, confused about what he was talking about. Jace was on his knees, velvet box propped open to reveal the sparkling ring inside.

"You'd better not be doing this because I'm murderously angry with you." She whispered muffled behind her hands. "Because I will have you know, this is not a Disney movie."

"I wanted to do this at a better time but tonight made me see everything so clearly. Clary Fray, you are the love of my life, as unorthodox as that life may be. You are beautiful when you're pissed at me and right now, after you bail me out of jail, isn't ideal. It isn't normal or the perfect proposal I had in mind, but it's us. I'm not going to ask you to marry me, I'm asking you to be my partner. Clary Fray will you-?"

"Yes." She said before he could ask.

Jace laughed at her eagerness. "You didn't let me finish. Will you marry-?"

"Yes." He stood from the floor and pulled out the ring from it's sitting place in the box. Holding it out to her, he wiped away the moisture from her cheek.

"Clary." Jace bit out, but his face was lit up with a smile. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes."

* * *

 _To Be Continued..._

* * *

 **Guys! One more chapter and this story is over! I'm so excited!**

 **Okay, so I've decided that the December story of the month is.. _drum roll_.. There isn't one! December is a free for all, whatever story I post for is what's apparently happening now. January is going to be the first official story of the month.**

 **Review!**


	10. Happily Ever After

**{Chapter Ten}**

 **~o.O.o~**

 _ **~One Year Later~**_

A year is a long time. It's enough time for the entire world to continue as if nothing has happened, moving forward without question. But for certain people, one year is plenty of time for everything to change.

After a whirlwind romance and some advice from Nana Imogen, Isabelle and Simon were traveling abroad. They would send postcards and pictures from India and Europe occasionally, but they spent more time off the grid. Simon called constantly to complain about Isabelle's horrific cooking skills. Izzy called to yell at Jace weekly for encouraging Simon to eat out all the time. A picture of them was nailed to the wall above Jace's desk. The metal spiral bars of the Eiffel Tower stood behind their grinning faces.

Clary was happy for them, they had a very sweet puppy love kind of relationship. At first Clary had wondered if they would last but after months of nothing but affection, Clary was convinced that they would last for many years to come.

Imogen had continued her trek against time and reason for a few more months but after her broken hip Jace had said enough, and she was now living happily in Jace's old penthouse.

Clary had loved that penthouse. It was the place she first met her Isabelle and Alec, her siblings-in-law now, and most importantly, it was where she met and lived with her husband. It was strange to look back on their time together and realize how far they had come in that, seemingly, short year and a half. When they were newlyweds the penthouse had been perfect, but when Clary dropped out of her medical courses and enrolled as an art major, she needed more space. When their family started to grow, it was time to move out and find a bigger home.

Magnus and Alec had adopted a four year old boy from one of their many vacations. His name was Raphael, with dark curly hair and chocolate colored eyes. He was the image of happiness and love. Clary used to be able to keep up with the small boy, often babysitting him. Now she could barely see her toes underneath her protruding belly, let alone chase after an almost five year old for hours with his endless energy.

Clary sat on the couch, bundled up in a blanket with a cup of steaming tea in between her fingers. It wasn't necessarily cold outside, but the comfort of being coddled had set in. Her eyes watered as she watched the show on their television screen. It was a superhero show she often caught on cable when Jace wasn't home, a green hooded vigilante going around showing people the business end of an arrow.

A violent churning of her stomach had Clary clutching her stomach with a groan. The tea spilt over the couch cushion next to her, soaking through the fabric and staining the white material. Clary cursed and whipped the blanket away from herself. She frantically dialed her husband's phone number and waited for an answer.

"Hey, baby, what's going on-?" Clary could hear the smile in his face.

She grit her teeth when a sharp pain radiated through her body. "I'm about to push a human out of my body so get home and take me to the hospital." Another wave of pain flashed from her stomach. "Now!"

Jace replied with a jumble of incoherent words before hanging up on her. Clary dug her nails into the armrests, she tried to focus on her breathing but the scream pierced the air as she struggled to stand. She knew she should call someone else not just her husband but the phone had slipped from her hand and was now somewhere underneath the couch. Clary didn't think she would be able get back up if she tried to pick it up.

She could feel the tears rolling down her flushed cheeks, Clary had read about labor, well she'd read every parenting book she could get her hands on, but nothing could prepare her for how much a contraction hurt. After a few seconds the bout of pain faded and she could finally take a deep, calming breath. There was a loud crash from outside their front door and for a moment Clary wondered if her luck was bad enough for their townhouse to get robbed while she was trying to have a baby.

The jingle of keys and the string of cursing relaxed her, Jace's hands always shook when he was in a hurry or nervous. Something told her he was both right now. No matter how many dry runs and practices' they'd had for this moment, it was a mess.

Jace broke in through the door, sweat dripping down his forehead and heaves of air as he knelt down next to her. "Hey, pretty girl. You ready to have our baby?"

"We are never having unprotected sex again," She grit out through her teeth. Clary's hand was holding onto his in a deathgrip, her knuckles turning white from the pressure.

Jace felt the snap in his finger bones and a distant part of his brain realized his wife probably just broke a finger. He tugged her up from the couch.

When they reached the hospital Jace pushed her inside with a wheelchair, a grumbling Clary trying to explain she didn't want a wheelchair, she wanted medically approved drugs. They had discussed natural birth for all of two minutes before Clary made the simple Rachel Green point of 'no uterus, no opinion'. So epidural was the final verdict.

"Hello, Mrs Herondale. How are you feeling?" During normal circumstances she found Sebastian Verlac to be a patient and charming doctor, but not anyone without the epidural was the enemy, including Verlac and the alien trying to rip out of her John Hurt style.

"I'm pushing a big headed Herondale out of my body, _without drugs_ , how do you think I feel?" Clary bit out, glaring at her male doctor. "Contractions are three minutes apart but they're a lot more painful than they should be."

A nurse took Jace's spot behind her, steering her into the elevator as another contraction hit her. The pain was blinding, waves of white hot pulsing through her. She held Jace's hand roughly, her head becoming dizzy.

"Clary?" She heard her name distantly, her head lulling to the side in an attempt to see who was calling for her. The voice didn't sound like her husband but it was familiar. Clary's eyes squeezed shut, the opening doors of the elevator roused her slightly but her heavy eyelids wouldn't open fully.

The allure of sleep appealed to her, the pain was far away like the voices. Flickering lights bled into her squinted vision and she could feel the prick of the needle in the crook of her arm. Then there was nothing, blankness and a deafening silence.

Clary thought she could hear the irregular beeps of machinery and the comforting pressure of someone's hand in hers. It all felt so far away, she could sense what was happening but there was no real feeling around her body. It was empty, cold. Alone.

 **~o.O.o~**

Jace remembered screaming, trying to hold onto his wife's hand as the gurnee was pulled into the operating room. Clary had lost consciousness when they got off the elevator, her arms and legs going limp. Doctor Verlac had slammed his palm on a bright blue button in the hallway. His wife was surrounded by nurses and doctors in a few short seconds, her body was placed on the bed and they were running down the tiled floor.

They hadn't let him go into the O.R. with her. Jace was furious, this was his wife, the mother of his child. His _child_ , an unborn love that Jace wanted to know. He sat in the waiting room with his head dropped into his shaking hands, his body feeling numb. There was a heavy weight on his chest, like his heart was breaking. Jace's head felt light and he didn't want to open his eyes, dizziness dampening his senses.

He felt the back of the uncomfortable hospital bench dig into his back as Jace rocked slowly in sinking thought. There was a ringing in his ears and he could hear the constant ticking of the clock hovering over his head.

"Jace?" He heard the voice hollowed, like he was underwater. He felt the pressure of a hand on his lax shoulders. The voice grew more insisting when he didn't answer. "Jace? Where's Clary? Why aren't you with her?"

"I don't- they wouldn't let me go with her." He heard himself respond. "Her heart stopped and they took her into the operating room. No one will tell me anything."

Jace hadn't felt his mouth moving or the fear running through him. Alec knelt lowly between his legs and Magnus'. He hadn't noticed when their family made it to the waiting room, he didn't know when they had sat around him or began to talk. All he heard was white noise.

"Izzy is going to go talk to a nurse and Simon is going to call her parents. You just need to take a breath." Alec tried to reason with him. His voice wavering.

Jace's eyes watered and he ran his hands over his face. "I can't lose her, she's my whole world, and our baby. _Our baby_. I can't breathe-" His voice cracking with emotion as the tears ran down his clammy cheeks. "Alec, I can't- not without them."

"They're both going to be okay, she's strong and if that baby is anything like you, he's going to take care of his mother." Jace nodded mutely. He needed to trust that the doctors would take care of his family until he could.

Isabelle quickly walked down the hallway, her heels clicking down the tiles towards their seats in the waiting room. "I talked with the front desk, she said Clary is out of critical condition and she's doing really well."

"Did they say what was wrong with her?" Jace perked up slightly.

Iz shook her head remorsefully. "That's all I know, I'm sorry Jace."

He could see guilt written all over her face and he knew why. Ever since Clary got closer to her due date they had all agreed to have someone with her. They all wanted to make sure she wasn't alone when she went into labor. Today was supposed to be Isabelle's day but she had wanted to get Simon's birthday present and Clary had insisted she go.

"It wasn't your fault. Clary was okay until we got here, even if you were with her, this still would have happened." He patted his best friend's arm. There was no point in anger and guilt. Nothing would change Clary's condition now and making each other feel bad thinking about what-if's wouldn't make anything better.

"She'll be okay," Isabelle said with conviction. "I know that both of them will be okay."

"Thanks, Iz." He whispered into the small space between them. "I appreciate the reassurance, but I would rather hear it from a doctor."

He didn't mean to snap at her but Jace was tired. He wanted to hold his wife but no one would tell him anything about where she was or how she was. He knew it was wrong and selfish but he didn't think he could survive without her, couldn't hold their child without grief.

Then they waited, they waited for what seemed like an eternity. For any news that could shatter Jace. When a nurse finally came towards them, her blue scrubs sticking her to her damp skin. A collected look on her face.

Jace readily stood on shaking legs, "Is there any news of my wife and my son?"

"They're both okay, she's in 215. Mrs Herondale is still asleep and your son is slightly underweight but healthy, he's resting as well." She read of the clipboard with trained emotions. "You can go see her now but I would recommend-"

Not waiting for her to finish, Jace stormed past her. Unaware of their friends stalking after him through the maze of halls and blank doors. When he finally spotted her door his heart beat a little faster, his feet moving with more determination than before. He didn't notice Alec holding Magnus and Izzy back, nor did he care enough to.

She was there, laying on the plain sheets. Covered in a thick sheen of sweat over her pale skin. Strands of her red hair tied away from her tired face. Clary's chest rose with heavy breaths. Her hands felt clammy and cold in his, but he held on tightly, intertwining their fingers. Her grasp was weak but she was there. Living, breathing, _real_.

"My pretty girl," He peppered kissed over her artists fingers.

"Hey," Clary's voice cracked from hours under anesthesia. Her eyes were tired but he could hear the panic when she asked, "Is our baby okay?"

"He's okay. I'm sure they'll bring him by soon." She nodded with tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. "We need to give him a name."

"Something befitting of a mighty Herondale?" She joked, a loving smile on her face. He looked at her like she was the most precious thing in the world then. "I love you."

"And I love you." He whispered against her lips. It was a sweet moment of lingering trust and affection. Jace gently stroked his thumb against his wife's cheekbone, enjoying the new warmth as it returned to her face.

A soft cry broke them apart, the door of her room was opened to reveal a nurse with a bundle in her that was very unhappy as it screamed. Hearing the broken shrills of his son's voice, set Jace on edge.

 _Was he alright? Did he need anything? Why was he crying? Was he hungry?_

The instinct to comfort and soothe the boy he hadn't held yet was overwhelming. Watching the nurse move closer to them, Jace knew, if anyone hurt his child he would kill them. It wouldn't matter who, he would do anything to protect the small boy placed in his stiff arms.

His son had a pudgy face, round and red from crying. While he watched his son, Jace could seen the boy calming and looking up. As if recognizing his of blonde hair like his father and forest green eyes like his mother. Jace traced his small button nose and curling fists. He was the most beautiful thing Jace had seen in his life.

"He's-" Jace choked on his words as his son stared up at him. "God, Clary, he's perfect."

Clary reached out for their son and when she felt the weight settle in her arms she couldn't hold back the tears. "Zuko Herondale has a certain ring to it."

"Maybe if our son was the prince of the Fire Nation," Her husband jest as he gathered his family in his arms. Relishing in the warmth and safety they gave him.

"I hate to tell you this but if you ever treat our son like _that_ , I will divorce you."

They fell asleep holding each other. The steady beating of her heart monitor lulling them into a deep slumber. Jace couldn't remember the last time he had been as thankful in his life- actually, he could. He would always be thankful for putting an ad for a roommate online.

* * *

 _The End._

* * *

 **Decide for yourself if they actually named him Zuko or not.**

 **Thank you so much for reading this story.** **I can't believe I finished the whole thing after fucking around for two years and not getting anything done. This experience has really taught me about hard work- am I going to apply it again anytime soon? Probably fucking not. Do you know how much stress and health instability I've gone through because of NaNoWriMo? No, thank you. Not again,** _ **until next fucking November because I have a** _**_death wish_. ****This story is honestly one of my only happy-fluffy ones so I hope you loved it because it's pretty rare. You can go read my other stories if you want though!**

 **Special thanks to everyone who continued to support me while this story was at a standstill. For all the people who reviewed and favorited and were so sweet. Thank you to CreativeDesigns, for literally reading everything I write and being awesome in general.**


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